


Never trust a fox or a ghost

by thelostdragonborn



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 44,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelostdragonborn/pseuds/thelostdragonborn
Summary: Nikolai meets his match when under the cover of Sturmhond him and his crew meet the infamous pirate captain of an all female crew named The Ghost.
Relationships: Nikolai Lantsov/Original Female Character(s), Nikolai Lantsov/Reader, nikolai lanstov/original character
Comments: 10
Kudos: 76





	1. Chapter 1

Nikolai 

He knew something was wrong as soon as he stepped aboard the ship. 

Having only half a days sail left until he could firmly plant his feet on Ravkan soil and say goodbye to the rough seas and wet skies, Nikolai proudly watched over his crew as The Kingfisher moved through the waves. But something wasn’t quite right. He could feel it among the crew, in the salty air and below his boots as the wood growled. Something was most definitely wrong as a thick blanket of fog began to swallow up the deck, leaving them blind as the ship crept forward. 

“Steady men” He held onto the helm and turned it slowly as his crew pulled at ropes and tightened the mast, pulling the ship into a slow drag. 

“Captain just ahead” Called a voice from the crows nest. The entire crew rushed to the sides of the deck and craned their necks, squinting past the white of the fog. Nikolai joined them, pushing aside the opening of his emerald coat as he lent over the side. A single light came into view. An amber glow emitting from halfway up in the air. The redhead heard gasps and curses of his men as a rotted burning ship sat anchored to the sea floor. Immediately he sprung into action as his voice carried commands across the crew.

“Tolya gather men. We board from the stern and search for survivors” He stood on the edge of the ship as his men lay across two long planks to connect the two ships.

“Easy boys” He cautioned as the ship slowed to a slop just meters from the burning wreck across from him. With one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other wrapped around the rope holding the mast of the deck, he waited as the planks made contact and he felt his his first mate Tolya behind him. Reassuring his men in a steady hush, they walked across the wood and stepped aboard hesitantly. Looking up he noticed only the mast was fully alight and from the few drops of oil beneath it he suspected it had been purposely set on fire. Cocking his head to the side he just knew something wasn’t right. The ship was too perfectly burning, only controlled areas seemed alight and the few barrels and nets that lay strewn on the floor were almost too neatly placed. But it was the silence that was most peculiar. No screaming crew or blooded deck? This wasn’t a pirate attack and there was too few signs of life for it to have been an accident turned a hastily abandon ship. 

“Be weary men” He urged as the crew split up to scour the ship. 

“Over hear” It was Tolya from beneath deck. Meeting him halfway, Nikolai gave him a questioning look before the taller first mate nodded his head down into the darkness. 

“You might wanna see this”

Joining the man below the ship, Nikolai was met with a dozen eyes. Female. All different types of women lay within the darkness staring back at the two men. Some blonde, some brunette, pale and dark, curvy and lean, all terrified. Nikolai bent at the knees and un-clipped his sword making a show of lowering it to the ground and held up his hands. The women watched in horror and shuffled back toward one and other in a gasp and he stood tall in front of them. 

“Hey hey its okay. I’m the Captain. This is Tolya my first mate. You’re safe now nobody can hurt you now” He made slowly toward them, toward the woman at the front of the group. While his first thought was perhaps prostitutes for mercenaries, he looked down at the tallest up front. She didn’t stand as cowed as the others and her face appeared dry despite the apparent tear marks of make up. Upon closer inspection he realised her hands weren’t bound either, nor the others behind her. In fact they seemed more of a threat now that he realised that the women stood more so in a circle around the two sailors rather than in the corner. And their clothes, they weren’t tattered dress or dirty scraps like he’d seen the women at The Mengaerie in Ketterdam wear. Rather they wore dark coloured pants and expensive long coats. But the woman in front of him. She was what set him off. Rather than her wrists being bound in chains, her hands were layered with dark stone rings and a wrap around the palm of her right hand. The type he wore after handling a sword for too long. And before he could even begin the recognise the pirate brand on her left wrist she lept forward and snatched up his sword from the floor. Tolya sprung into action along side the Captain and faced the women who had now surrounded them reaching with no avail for his blades that had been promptly snatched out of his own belt. Meeting the dark eyes of the pirate branded woman ahead, Nikolai could almost laugh. How could he be so stupid? He’d heard whispers of recent. Of a pirate crew made up of only women who lured men aboard their ships only to rob them blind and leave them left for dead. Even his own men had spoke of them during their evening games of poker below deck in the cover of night fall. They spoke most weary of their Captain, a ferocious woman whose face one never lived long enough to describe, whose name they only spoke of a The Ghost. And she was right in front of him with his own blade pointed down his throat. 

“Well well well that was easy” Nikolai heard the calls of his men above deck.

“Oh don’t worry about them. They’re just being stripped of all things valuable” Her voice was cold and low, the sound stroked his ears and made the hairs on his arms stick up. 

“Ah I recognise this oh yes” She removed her gaze from his as the inspected the hilt of his sword. 

“The owner I’m presuming?” The blade pocked at his chin as he held his hands the the side of him in the air. Saints give him strength he was going to rip his precious sword out of her dirty little hands and promptly stab her. 

“Ah ah don’t act rashly now Sturmhond. Yes I’ve heard all about you” So she did know who he was.

“The Ghost? What a pleasure” He was beginning to get impatient and from the shuffling of Tolya beside him so was he.

“The pleasures all mine” She edged the blade to the opening of his shirt and moved the fabric to the side revealing his small yet obviously expensive gem stone chained around his neck, it was a gift from Alina one winters back and he swore to the stars above if this woman-

“Don’t get any ideas Captain. If I heard correctly my women currently have your crew in binds above desk and are awaiting my command before they slit their” She almost moved the blade to stroke at his chest “pretty little necks” 

“Oh I’m going to-”

“What are you going to do? Fight me? I’d like to see you try” He was most certainly going to make her pay for this. Before he could respond she slid forward and wrapped her hands behind his neck as her crew held both men with their hands behind their backs. They had obviously done this before. Her face was inches from his, her height matching his own and eyes staring deep into his. 

“You are as pretty as they say” She whispered as she un-clipped the necklace.

“I wish I could say the same about you” She laughed in response and looked him once over before humming to herself. Breaking contact she nodded at the dark haired pirate beside him and made her way up the stairs. 

“Bind them and bring them up” The woman she addressed pulled out two ropes throwing one at the smaller woman beside Tolya as they set to bind the two men pulling them up deck, the rest of the women following behind them. Sighing Nikolai cursed at his foolishness as he met the worried eyes of the rest of his crew as they sat in bundles on the floor, hands bound and mouths gagged- all weapons stripped off them and in the hands of the women who hopped aboard a larger more extravagant ship that sailed slowly past them only just giving them enough time to step across. It was no Kingfisher but the decorative bow and hull were a beautiful twist of a sea dragon of gold and wood. If he wasn’t currently on his knees looking up at one of the seas most feared pirates he might even be jealous. But as The Ghost held his face in her hand as she leaned down all he could feel was pure raging anger. 

“I hope to met again Sturmhold, this has been fun” Killing her couldn’t come soon enough he decided. Letting go of his face she straighten back up and stared down at him marking him to memory before she pressed the heel of her boot to his shoulder pushing him back. 

“I think I’ll keep you alive. You’re too pretty to kill. I bet you could give the King a run for his money” If only she knew. 

“So long Captain” She called as she stepped back and pulled a lit candle from a holder beside the mast and dropped it at her feet, lighting up a stream of placed oil marking the wood in an emblem of a smoke shrouded skull. Her ship had left the side of the wreck and now past the middle of The Kingfisher. In no rush at all she skipped between the planks of his ship and the wreck, not before kicking the two planks over boards stranding them and meeting her own ship as it pulled away from The Kingfisher and back into the fog. Watching her figure disappear into a haze of white sent a wave of anger through him and that was when he rued the day he ever met The Ghost.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ghost makes for the Ravkan capital with a plan to steal the crown jewels that she probably be more worried about than she is.

The Ghost/ Y/N

After securing the loot from Sturmhold’s ship and the six others that came before him, it was smooth sailing. With Ravka shores in sight and the lining of her pockets considerably heavier since she last stepped foot on land she practically skipped among her crew. 

“All set to make port?” She addressed her first mate beside her, a smaller raven haired woman with a fierce pointed face named Yuta. She didn’t appear much whilst stood beside The Ghost but put a blade in her hand and throw her into a fight and Y/N wouldn’t hesitate to bet that her second would walk out with bodies behind her haven barely broken a sweat and laughing. She would trust her with her life if it came down to it. 

“Aye Captain” Y/N recognised the strain on her voice as they settled into silence, both with their hands held behind them looking onto the crew. 

“Out with it Yuta. If you’ve got something to say, say it now before it stabs you in the back” The first mate tense before meeting her black eyes with Y/N’s. 

“You really think we can pull this off? Captain, playing the damsel in distress to con out pirates is one thing but the crown jewels?” 

“Jewel Yuta. Singular. Just the crown” 

“Its madness”

“Its ambitious Ill give it to you” Y/N left the side of her second and pulled on her long sapphire coat as the velvet was passed to her by one of the younger of crew. Y/N slung her thick black belt around her middle as Yuta shouted orders to the crew as the entered the bay. Buckling the silver sun in the middle she cinched her waist taught and acknowledged Yuta as she handed over the captains black tricorne hat. 

“I need that crown Yuta. It’ll set us up for life. The crew can take it easy for a while. Make south for the winter, I’ve heard the Southern Colonies are nice” Yuta hummed in agreement as Y/N continued “We would do half the raids we’re pulling now for at least a decade” Y/N held onto the wheel as she eased the ship against the docks, following shouts and directions from the crew below. 

“And besides I’ve heard King Nikolai is more of a poster boy. He enjoys parties and girls. Just like every other guy we’ve ever robbed. This one just happens to have several layers of guards to get past first” She muttered the later of her sentence as Yuta gave her a pointed look. “Now you’ve set up transport to Os Alta right?”

“Aye now explain to me one more time your plan before we go through with this” 

Making their way down from the quarter deck, they met with the rest of the crew and instructed who would stay. Theoretically Y/N only needed herself to seduce the King enough to swipe the crown off his perfect little head and disappear into the night, yet having back up never hurt anyone. 

Two more women, Juno a slinky woman with russet brown skin and short black hair and Astrid a tall built redhead joined her and Yuta as they set foot on Os Kervo’s dock and followed the first mate behind crates and carriages. They would be her eyes and muscle during the mission. While Juno’s nick for spying would come in handy to ensure no one unexpected interrupted Y/N and the King, she prayed to the saints Astrid’s more brutal shall we say skills wouldn’t need to be utilised. 

“The King is throwing his annual Feast of Sankt Nikolai and we’ll be attending. You will be my eyes and ears while I seduce the King during the evening ball” She said nodding at Juno as they rounded a corner. “You will be waiting in the shadows for me to hand you the crown and get out of there” She directed at Yuta as they met the black doors of a small carriage. “And Astrid will be our getaway driver or extra hand should one of us get caught or need a quick killing before we get dragged to the gallows” 

They went silent as Y/N settled in her seat. 

“Kidding” she laughed. Yuta shook her head at the Captain. 

“No you’re not” 

No she wasn’t. If any of them were to get caught wondering through the back halls of the palace with what looked like the crown jewels Y/N knew it would only be a matter of time before they’d end up in manacles. The rest of the women looked uneasy. 

“Don’t worry it’ll be a simple in and out. Grab the crown, switch it for a fake and meet me at the gates before we make back for the ship and spend the rest of our days lounging on a beach in Novyi Zem or gambling til your hearts content in Ketterdam” 

As the carriage jolted forward and made its way toward the capital Y/N stared back out the window and into the sheets of rain that had begun to fall upon the land. She prayed this would go well. That her informants were right about the King being a ladies man. That the guards of the Palace would be as dumb as she was told and that any Grisha would be too preoccupied with wine to notice a pirate among their party goers. Now that she thought about it, if Grisha were involved the gallows would be the least of her problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed chapter two! So each chapter will be in either Nikolai's or The Ghost's pov (You're the ghost hence Y/N which means your/name if you were unsure) I'm trying to keep the physical description of The Ghost ambiguous so that everyone can see themselves as her so if i'm ever too specific let me know. Have a lovey rest of your day and drink plenty water xoxo


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N puts her plan into action as she attends the ball of Sankt Nikolai.

The Ghost/ Y/N

It had taken two days for them to reach the capital city and between that time the four pirates had devised a near perfect plan with the help of information they weaseled out of drunken men or loose lipped women in the smaller towns surrounding Os Alta. The ball would follow shortly after the Great Feast and one only requires an easily forged invitation to gain access. For Y/N’s first mate and spy, rumor had it servants often left the north side’s back gate open so they could sneak in and out of the grounds to smoke and rendezvous with lovers during the night. Perfect for two pirates to sneak in undetected. From there Y/N would attend the ball, dance around a bit and catch the eye of a too drunk King of Ravka. Whilst Yuta stood wait in the shadows of the corridors, Y/N would lure the King into a room, make out with him a bit and get a distraction going. He’d of course be focusing too much on what was in front of him to notice she’d switch his crown with a fake and handed over the real one to Yuta who would wait patiently by the door. Followed swiftly by The Ghost doing what she does best and handling the situation one way or another before she would slip out the door meeting the rest of her crew by the back gates and running back to their ship to promptly sail away and never be seen again. Easy. Right? 

Night had fallen just as they entered the city and Y/N had broken off from the others to meet with her contact. She sent one last glance at her leather clad spy, solemn looking first mate and stern faced get away driver before making her way down spiraling alleyways and cobbled roads to come out just in front of a seamstresses work shop stuffed in the back of a shambles of rickety houses piled upon one and other. She was most certain she was in the less affluent shall she say part of town. The shop’s interior was as much of a clutter as the stacks of shops outside with rolls of fabric covering every inch of the room, trinkets of rattly metals and feathered dream catchers hanging from the ceiling and small glows of light emitting from candles and gas burners in the few bare crevices around the tiny wooden shop.Hearing the chime of the door’s bell, a knobbly old lady with a cane almost as tall of her with a crow upon it hobbled out from behind a purple curtain where the ceiling slopped. 

“What can I-”

“I’ve come to collect an order. Under the name of Margaret”

The hunched over hag met Y/N’s eyes and immediately smiled in a way that made even her uneasy. 

“You must be she”

“She?”

“Yes she. The little she looking to do not very she like things this evening” This bat was definitely on something and Y/N’s temper would soon wear thin if the seamstress didn’t hurry up. The old woman tightened the shawl around her hunched shoulders and grumbled as she disappeared back behind the curtain only to pop her head back out and growl for Y/N to follow. Ducking under the curtain the room opened out into a darker hovel. Wooden shelves lined the room with objects that looked less like tourist trinkets and more like counterfeit goods, fake identification documents, stamps and sigils, sharp daggers small enough to be carried covertly in women’s purses and viles of black liquids Y/N had seen pirates use enough before to know she wanted to go nowhere near them. Distracted, she didn’t noticed the woman pop up in front of her and tap the top of her wooden crow cane on Y/N’s stomach.

“Here’s your order my little she” Holding out in her wrinkled and curling hands was the most perfect replica of King Nikolai’s crown she’d ever seen. Exchanging the metal with a pouch of coins she kept stashed in her coat, Y/N held up the crown to what little light was in the room.

“This is perfect” She said in astonishment. Y/N was prepared for the fake to only be good enough for a drunk king to not recognise for five minutes as she fled out the palace. But this. You could hold this against the real one and even the smith who made the first would doubt which was the original.

“I know I know I’m perfect now give it here while you go change. I’ve left the dress you wanted behind the partition out front” The old lady snatched back the crown and began to rock it like a child while Y/N made her way behind the partition. In her surprise at the crown she had almost forgotten she ordered a dress for the ball as well. Before her lay the most gorgeous gown she’d even seen. Upon sliding into it Y/N concluded the old woman was a witch as the red material pulled perfectly around her body, the high neck lace sitting perfectly on her chest as the bodice appeared a sheer layer of polka dots before it met the lace that created a stunning corset around her torso. The puffed out sleeves sat loosely at her arms, gathering at the wrists and the skirt fell in layers of ruffles down her frame reaching just before the ground, easily hiding the crown she planned to strap to her thigh like a garter. She was the most stunning vision of red she’d ever seen if she did say so herself. 

“Just as I suspected. It’s beautiful on you” The seamstress appeared peaking around the corner, her eyes admiring the dress. She heard the woman grumble once more and she pull her into the dark backroom again. 

“You’ll be needing these too I suppose ” She held out a pair of short sheer polka dot gloves and slid them over Y/N hands to mask the various scars and nicks she gained on the sea. Realising the time, they both wrapped up quickly and the old woman lead her to the back exit informing her the route through the city that would lead her the quickest to the palace. Looking out the door, Y/N could see a glint of the palace through the slats of buildings and made to move out into the night before the hag caught her wrist. 

“Be careful little she I hear there’s ghosts out tonight” She winked. How did she know Y/N was the-

“You bear your own mark my child” The woman stroked the tattoo marked hidden beneath the glove on Y/N left wrist- the shadow shrouded skull, the mark of The Ghost. 

“Be careful”

Y/N nodded once more. “And come back soon perhaps we could share old sea tales next time you’re in town” Now Y/N looked down at the woman’s own arm and saw the baring of a pirate from the Northern Isle peaking out from beneath her overly ruffled dress. That confirmed why she was so good at counterfeiting, pirates from the North had a reputation in fraudulent goods and illicit trading. She would most certainly be back but hearing the faint laughter of guests making their way down the streets to the ball reminded her of the mission. And so she bid the old hag fair well with a clasping of one and others wrists, an old pirate greeting, and slid off into the night. 

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Getting into the ball was the easy part, the guards clearly trying to hide the fact that they pregamed before their shifts as they half arsed checked her invitation before being ushered in. It was finding the King that was hard, especially in the huge crowd of atrociously ornate gowns and frocks, hanging decorations and the hundreds of waiters that slid between guests practically shoved glasses of champagne into hands. Grabbing the hand of one man who offered to dance with her, The Ghost moved among the opening in the centre, smirking to herself as she caught a glimpse of Jude’s wink to her from where she was perched in one of the upper balconies. She even had to assure her dance partner she was laughing at his horrible joke rather than at Jude who was mocking her dancing skills from above.

She saw the King’s second in command before she saw him. The Zoya Nazyalensky appeared in a flash of sapphire blue as she moved across the dance floor towards a back door, clearly fed up with the party and retiring for the night. Following where the Grisha, whose reputation match that on land as Y/N’s did on sea, she saw the tall blonde she had her heart set on, or rather the bejeweled crown upon his head. Slipping her hand out of her partners to move it above his, she took the lead and danced them closer to him, taking advantage of his shock at her brashness to almost fully collide into the King himself. Winking at the shocked man she danced with, she pushed him back into the crowd as she let her body smack into the back of the royals.

“Oh my. I am so sorry I didn’t even-I-I just got too carried away-I”

King Nikolai turned to face her, his scowl softening upon seeing the innocent smile of Y/N’s. On lookers shot glares her way but the King waved them off as he helped her regain her balance. 

“Are you alright miss?” She raised her head to meet his gaze as his own gloved hand met hers. She went to apologise more but stopped when she saw his face falter as he stared down at the necklace beneath the sheer fabric of her collar. It was the one she had stolen from that Sturmhond just a few days past and she hoped he was merely fascinated with it rather than questioning how she acquired such a precious gem. Holding her palm over the metal with one hand still in his she went to ask for fake forgiveness once more before he tightened his grip in hers, hardly enough for her to notice. Nevertheless she did and went to pull back again until he spoke in a rushed voice.

“Dance with me?” That was easier than she expected. She assumed he would need to be far drunker to agree to dance with a pretty stranger so early in the night. But the quicker she could get him away in a quiet room, the quicker she could rob him blind and scurry off.

In response to his request she brought her other hand to his shoulder pulling them back onto the dance floor. He instantly hooked his arm around her waist and lead them in a spiraling dance she knew well. They skipped across the marble floor and switched partners a couple times in accordance to the song, never once breaking eye contact. This was way easier than she thought, they didn’t lie when they said the King of Ravka was a ladies man. 

Several songs had past before Nikolai lowered his head to her ear. 

“Would the beautiful stranger like to retire early to somewhere more-” His hazel eyes met hers before flickering down to her lips. He was good at this she’d admit “private?”. 

Nodding feverishly like a love struck puppy, she let the King guide her through the crowd and into a door hidden in the side of the ballroom. From there he led them down several hallways and flights of stairs, she hoped Yuta would be keeping close behind as he moved swiftly. She almost rolled her eyes at how eager the King seemed to be to get her alone. The audacity of men never stopped to amaze her. 

Entering two large double doors through the biggest library she believed she’d ever seen, she withheld a scoff as Nikolai pulled her into what she could only assume was his office, with a great wooden desk in the centre, stacks of books piled high against a chair and an assortment of weapons displayed against the furthest wall, all different kinds of sharp she was almost foaming at the mouth to touch. 

“Against the table?” She spoke as he edged her into the room, closing the doors behind them. She heard a “No” as her back was pressed against the now shut doors and their hands began the search across each others bodies as his lips barely grazed hers before he moved to her neck. She expected a drunk, boyish make out, not a hot and ravaged against-the-wall type affair. He kicked one of her legs aside as he stood between them pushing her further into the wall and bringing their bodies closer. Realising she needed to act now before she ended up too distracted by his hands to think, she moved her palms out from under his white shirt that had become untucked and up towards his hair as he connected their lips once more, moaning against each other. She began to push him back and they moved as one toward his desk behind him, never breaking the kiss. Pressing him further against his desk, his back arched as she leaned across and grabbed the small letter opener abandoned on a stack of papers. Before she could bring it to his throat he flipped them both so she was flat against his desk banging her wrist against the wood so she dropped the knife. To her surprise he too held a weapon, yet he had successfully manage to press it against her neck. 

“Well well well. That was easy. Isn’t that what you said just last week as you held my own sword against my neck” His voice felt as if it caressed her face even as his blade was drawing a thin line of blood against her. She furrowed her brows as he laughed once. 

“Don’t recognise me?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever met a King twice before” Even now with her back against a table, her body trapped under his and his knife licking at her skin, she wouldn’t let her pirates cheek go. 

“We’ll I recogonise you. Or should I say I recognise my necklace you’ve got on here” 

Shit. It all made sense now. The way he moved. The way he talked. How he stood. The callous of his hands as he discarded them while moving them up and down her body only seconds ago. Pirate. And not just any pirate, Sturmhond. He moved the blade down and picked up the chain with the point, pulling it out from under her dress. 

“I believe you stole this from me” Smug bastard. She was going to enjoy ripping that crown off his head. “And what do we have here?” His free hand moved under her dress, grazing her thigh and pulled at the crown he had clearly felt before. Saints she should have made sure he was far more drunk before she decided to do this. 

“That wasn’t very King like your highness” She struggled against him but ceased when the pressure of his blade became heavier. She cursed his and his long arms as he was able to hook his hand under her thigh to lift it off the desk and slide the fake crown down her leg. 

“After something were you?” Before he could press his knife any further into her she reached at his belt and pulled free the short blade she felt hidden before, holding it against the slip of skin that breathed free where the fabric of his shirt had ridden up. 

“Yes and I’ll be taking it now if you don’t mind” He groaned just once as he felt the metal poke at his side. “Unless you plan on slitting my throat on top of all these papers” Feeling his pull drop just slightly, she leaned forward, their lips only an inch away, their eyes locked. “But I guess that’s assuming you think you’re faster than me” She hummed at the end, questioning him as she began to smirk once more. 

“Your call pretty boy”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikolai finds himself in a predicament in his office with a deadly stranger.

Nikolai

In the two times he had met The Ghost he had concluded that bashing her head off the nearest surface would be the first thing he’d do given the chance. And now with that opportunity in sight he slacked at her command to drop his knife, coming to the realisation that to slit her throat would require him to get the blade pressed against him waist away from him first. 

“Your call pretty boy” She looked sickeningly smug as she pressed the blade harder against his skin. Surprising her, he dropped his knife, her own loosening after, only for him to step back and kick hard against her chest. 

Not the most gentlemanly of moves, but given his predicament, it was all he could think of in the moment. Her body flung back at the desk once more but she allowed her weight to carry over, flipping herself onto the other side in a gasp of air. Preoccupied with her lack of oxygen from his blow, he made for his sword that lay unsheathed by the door, cursing his sense to abandon the weapon while previously letting her lips distract him. Scooping the blade up with his boot, he caught it mid air and turned to face the Captain just as she went to pull an antique Ravkan saber off the mantel above the roaring fire that lit up the room in a glow of oranges and red, creating silhouettes of black shadows that danced along the ceiling. Before he could allow her to get to him first, he ran at her and slid across the desk sending papers flying and meeting his blade with hers. They struck back and forth all the while she kept lunging for the crown that lay upon his head. 

“I never thought I’d cross blades with a king before” She moved quickly and with a deadly aim. 

“And I-” He met her strike with his full body and wrapped his hand around her wrist slamming them back against the wall “never thought I’d end the night fighting with a ghost in my own office” 

He held tightly to her arm and drove it into the wall, her knuckles cracking against the stone forcing her to release the blade. She let out a yelp that almost made Nikolai recoil as the weapon dropped to the floor in a clang. Almost. They weren’t done yet and as she fell slightly, she brought her free elbow to the side of his cheek and bashed his face with the bone sending him to the side. They were panting, reaching for their dis-guarded weapons before launching into action once more. The Ghost lept past the desk but Nikolai was able to hook the end of his sword with hers as she clumsily waved it in her dash and sent the metal clanging against the wall. He followed after her. He even thought for a moment how comedic this may look as the two chased each other around the room, the woman throwing books at his head and he followed her with his sword. 

“Nobody steals from the king” Nikolai hissed as he went to jab his sword into her side but The Ghost turned quickly just as Nikolai caught up with her and picked up the chair from beside the door, turning and smashing the wood across his body sending him to the ground. 

“Get off your high horse and I’m not-”She moved toward him swiftly pulling a pair of manacles she nabbed from the table out in front of him “a nobody” 

In his dazed state from having a chair lobbed at him, he barely registered her clamping the shackles to the leg of his desk. He cursed his Materialki, David, for leaving them behind after crafting them for Nikolai’s ‘night terrors’ as Zoya called them. His transformations had grown worse as of recent and the nightmares of The Darkling’s demon curse often led with him waking in a pile of torn sheets, screaming as talons grew from his hands and his skin veined black. But now as The Ghost locked his right hand to the table he regretted not sending them straight to his room.

Making her way over to him in a series of heavy breaths, blood and sweat, the woman leaned over with her hands on her knees, resting for a moment.

“I see your little Sturmhold side definitely comes out when your pissed” She even laughed once before attempting to regain her breaths.

“That tends to happen when you get held at knife point” He seethed. 

“You kings, ever the dramatic kind” She bent down to meet his eyes but kept far enough back that he couldn’t grab for her. 

“I’m going to kill you” He muttered as he spat blood to the side. She hummed like it meant nothing and stepped forward in a flash. He barely even blinked before his crown was removed from his head and in her grasp. 

“It’s been a pleasure your highness” She mocked a bow, dramatically flaring her arms to wrap around her and rolled her free hand in a gesture of fake pleasantry. “The first half where you held me against the wall I mean, not the second half of course. You may look like a King now your highness but you most certainly kiss like a pirate” 

Turning her back to his she strode to the door swinging her arms back and forth. Nikolai ravaged at his shackles but made no progress as she went to open the door with his crown in hand. 

She looked back one last time but now it was Nikolai’s turn to smile as she left the door open behind her. 

“And you react like a school girl when pinned against said wall Ms-I’m sorry what’s your name” His grin had met his eyes now as she frowned and went to speak her name before the words were taken out of her mouth by someone behind her. 

“The Ghost” It was Zoya. And as the blood dripped from his mouth, he watched the Captains face fall flat. Closing his eyes, Nikolai let out a short laugh and leaned his head back against the wood of the desk, silently thanking whatever Saints granted Zoya such perfect timing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That probably could have gone better on both their parts.

The Ghost / Y/N

In an instant the smile on The Ghost’s face was wiped as she heard her name from behind her. Meeting Nikolai’s eyes she scowled as a great smile rose on his face and he laughed once tilting his annoyingly perfect head back, even if he did a a gaping gash on his right cheek bone and blooded teeth. Turning around her stomach dropped. There in front of her was the most feared Grisha, Zoya Nazyalensky, staring back at her with The Ghost’s first mate hanging let a wet dog by her collar beside the General. 

“I found this little rat sneaking around in the dark Nikolai and it didn’t take much for her to squeal” Zoya spoke as she nudged her first mate forward as if to wave her in front of the King. Yuta gave an apologetic look at her Captain but Y/N was too busy filtering through all the ways in which they could get out of here without either of them being ripped to bits by the Grisha or locked up by the King. 

“My my you have been busy tonight” It was Nikolai from behind her and it took all her might to not roll her eyes as she kept them locked on the Grisha ahead of her, waiting for any chance to run. But the light of escape drew dimmer as she heard more foot steps emerge from the hall. Soldiers both clad in royal uniforms and Grisha Kefta filtered around Zoya and into the study forming a tight circle around Y/N. Deciding to go out in a blaze, she nodded at Yuta who immediately dropped to the ground elbowing the Grisha General in the stomach. Y/N kicked at a staff that fell half of the desk beside her and twisted it around her body striking back the rows of swords. She managed to demobilize almost all the guards around her in seconds and even heard a wince from the King behind her as he watched her smash the staff hard against one mans face, bringing him to the floor in a heap. But it all stopped when Zoya recovered and thrust Y/N’s first mate into the arms of another soldier before raising her hand and bringing a heavy gust of wind down upon The Ghosts body, shoving her to the ground beside Nikolai who then, seeking opportunity, brought his heel down on her hand just within reach of his leg, crushing the already broken bones. 

Several guards flanked her and brought her to her knees. A dark haired man ran into the room looking slightly aghast at the sight, spotted his King on the floor and lowered to his level , running his hands over the manacle that linked Nikolai to the table. The metal seemed to slither toward the brunettes hands and fall away from the King. A Fabrikator she put together. The King rose to his feet and brushed off his shirt, tutting at the blood that now stained the front and the rips that pulled at the sides. He eased forward and mimicked the stance Y/N took just minutes before with his hands locked on his thighs as he leaned over to meet her face, his eyes glaring into hers.

“Now be a good little pirate and drop it” It was as if he was speaking to a dog that stole a bone. Surprisingly, despite being thrown to the ground by Zoya and held up by two guards, Y/N still firmly gripped Nikolai’s crown and made a show of staring at it as if to weigh out her options before flicking what was free of her hand, the crown making a loud clang as it hit the floor. 

“Good girl” Nikolai even dared to pat her head causing her to rise up in attempt to lunge at the king. 

“David if you would be as to kind as to chain up our little ghost here and take her and her second to war room” The war room? Not the dungeon? “And make the metal tight, she has a reputation” David stepped into the circle of guards and molded two metal cuffs around her wrists, the edges jabbing into the bones. The circle eased and Nikolai marched past her, his shoulder barging into her own. Childish little king. 

They had been sat in silence now in the war room for what felt like hours. Guards lined the walls but remained in the shadows as Y/N and Yuta sat clamped to two tall wooden chairs before a great oak table lined with maps of Ravka and the bordering nations. Yuta had attempted to apologise for getting caught, claiming Nikolai and her Captain moved too fast for her to catch up, leaving her lost in the palace until a one Zoya found her and promptly began to question her. But Y/N shut her down immediately and put her own blame on the table. They were both too sloppy tonight. She should have waited for Nikolai to be drunker or at least realised quicker who Nikolai really was. That blasted pirate. 

The sound of boots hitting against the floor made them both raise their bowed heads as Nikolai and his two Grisha from before followed him into the room, the brunette Fabrikator followed closely behind by a redhead woman. Y/N’s mind began to put the pieces together that the scarred third Grisha was that of Genya Safin, a traitor turned loyal warrior of Nikolai’s whom had been maimed during the war. 

Nikolai had changed his outfit and now wore a plain white shirt similar to his previous one but less stained and tucked into sleek black pants. She might have felt embarrassed at the beauty of the four while she sat in her blood and sweat but the pain shooting through her broken hand and acing limbs distracted her enough.

“Ah you’re still her” She was beginning to realise how much of a sarcastic prick Nikolai was turning out to be. 

“Obviously” She shook obnoxiously at her arms, clattering the metal together. The four joined Y/N and her second at the table across from them. 

“I thought the infamous Ghost would be smarter than that” Nikolai began. 

“I managed to get you alone did I not?” She smirked as Nikolai’s jaw tensed. 

“I’ll give it to you. You probably would have gotten away with it had you not have been so dumb enough as to wear my stolen necklace right in front of me” The metal felt heavier on her neck with every breath. 

“I do suppose I should have realised you were more than a king when you put your hands on me thighs” He tensed once more and she could almost laugh as the three Grisha beside him all rushed through a series of different reactions, the metal bender choking on air. “You have a sailors hands” Rough and calloused.

“And you have sticky fingers you thief”

“Pirate” She corrected. 

“Ah yes The Ghost. How could I forget? How’s the whole scheming and stealing turning out for you” He smiled brightly, clasping his hands out in front of him to lean forward, his eyebrows raising in question. She went to snap but the woman to his left spoke first.

“Saints would you two stop. Nikolai just get it over with already. We’re all tired” Get what over with? Alina above they were going to kill her with their little witchy Grisha voodoo. 

Nikolai huffed leaned back in his chair. 

“We have a proposition for you and your little band of sea rats” 

“Easy now your Highness we might be in chains but the others are looking for us now and those sea rats-” she pulled against her restraints “will stop at nothing to ensure their Captain returns safely to the ocean” 

Appearing bored by her threat, Nikolai continued. 

“A group of young Grishas have been kidnapped by some Fjerdan reprobates up by the boarder, no less to be taken to be trialed and murdered for their crimes against nature” Zoya tensed beside him and the red haired female appeared dejected as, who Y/N now recalled as David, held her hand upon the table. “I’m willing to make opportunity of our little situation and offer you this” She’d do anything to get out of here and back to her ship “We need your expertise to help us infiltrate the camp that those Fjerdan bastards are keeping my Grisha in and create a-” he seemed to search for the word “distraction”

“Like what we did with you” It was Yuta who questioned, referring to our little performance on his ship.

“Twice might I add” I interjected. 

“Beside the point” Nikolai groaned “But yes exactly like that. In return to can go back to whatever hovel you came from free of your crimes against the crown” 

“Let me get this straight” She laughed slightly. “You want me and my crew to just what? waltz into some camp and swipe up a bunch of kids?”

“I’ll be coming too” Saints help her.

“A little risky don’t you think? The King of Ravka on a mission with The Ghost into unknown territories”

“I won’t be the King of Ravka when I accompany you” 

She laugh out loud.

“Ah yes your little sailor boy alter ego. And I assume they’ll be coming to” She nodded at the three Grisha. 

“Yes” Spoke Zoya, clearly losing her patients. 

“How do I know they won’t turn on my crew and use their little science on us”

“That’s rich coming from a pirate” Nikolai laughed. 

“I’ll have you know-”

“Will you do it or not?” It was the red head who asked. 

Taking one side glance at her second who nodded just once, Y/N stared back at the four contemplating the risk. A deadly mission into the fear Fjerdan camps or a life in a cell? 

“We’ll take my ship” 

“No we won’t we’ll take mine” Nikolai went to stand.

“Fine but we’ll take my full crew and they’ll follow my orders not yours”

“Deal” 

In an sudden move, Y/N stood up. The chains that held her to the chair fell apart as the work her nimble fingers picked during their conversation unlocked the shackles. As Nikolai said before, she had a reputation to up hold. Leaning over the table she held out her hand to Nikolai’s, surprising them all. Nikolai glared at the male Fabrikator who sunk back into his seat before reaching over and meeting his hand with hers. She grabbed it firmly and pulled him forward, startling him as he had to balance himself on one arm.

“You have yourself a deal you Highness”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ghost finds herself alone in a dark palace, something she thought she'd never say.

The Ghost / Y/N

Once the deal had been made the Grisha man set off to rework the shackles Y/N had managed to pick, scooping them up in a huff and leaving the room muttering away at himself. Y/N’s eyes widened when Nikolai told the red head Grisha to work on her broken fingers while he turned to speak to Zoya in a hushed voice. Her eyes widened and she began to step back when Genya approached her.

“Calm down I’m just going to fix your hand” Genya walked forward with her hands raised as if she was trying not to scare an injured animal. Realising she could probably do more harm to the Grisha than the Grisha to her, Y/N held her hand out to the woman.

“You know-” Genya held Y/N’s hand while she began to pull the skin at the knuckles back together “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get as many swings in on Nikolai as you have before”

Y/N looked to the left and stared at the King. His face was half shadowed by the dark and the other lit up in a glow of orange from the fire just behind her. His skin was tanned and weathered from his recent days on the sea but his hair was in a perfect mess of blonde curls, the back of it more of a mess than perfect no help to her hands that pulled at the back of him while they were pressed against the wall. Y/N couldn’t help but blush at the thought that only hours before Nikolai’s hands had searched her body, lighting her skin aflame as he kissed at her throat and pushed her against the wall then table.

Coughing slightly she looked back at the Grisha.

“You do know who I am right?”

“The famous Ghost? Is it true that you killed an entire fleet of Shu sailors in cold blood?”

Y/N hissed as she felt the bone of her knuckle crack back into place.

“They were holding a bunch of Sulli girls captive no less to sell them off as prostitutes to the main land before crawling back to whatever godforsaken lands they call home” Y/N felt Genya stop. She raised an eyebrow at the Grisha who’s expression was left unreadable.

“They all deserved it”

“And the girs?” Genya resumed her work on Y/N’s hands.

“Returned unharmed to their homes. We’ve only ever killed those who deserved it” Y/N met her first mates eyes as Yuta remained chained to her chair. Yuta nodding once at her captain in pride.

“Would you have killed me?” It was Nikolai who spoke, rounding the table to stand at Genya’s side looking down at her handy work.

“Would you have deserved it?” Y/N knew she never planned to kill the King regardless of how far it would have come, it would have been too much trouble. But she wanted to see if the King would give her a reason to perhaps do so in the future.

He wasn’t looking at her face as he spoke but at her hands, her wrists that without the her gloves or her sleeves that were pushed up her arms revealed her pirate brands.

“Depends on what you class as deserving of death” He reached for her wrist, taking it from Genyas. His thumb rubbed at the skull inked into her skin. _Pull yourself together_ Y/N internally yelled as her stomach flipped.

“Meeting the Ghost twice in one week? I must be lucky”

She mumbled a fuck off and pulled her hand from his as he laughed. He told Genya she was relieved of her duties as Zoya met them from the other side of the room to unchain Yuta from her chair and hoist her up.

“Apparently you can get out of chains as easily as Zoya can get out of her duties-” Zoya cursed at Nikolai as she pulled Yuta around the table “so we’ll trust you can be a good girl and stay put in your room until morning”

“Where are you taking-” Y/N began to panic as Yuta left the room with Zoya in a struggle.

“Your first mate will be fine. She’s just staying in a different room we wouldn’t want you to both plot some more dumb ideas together and try to escape before you’ve met your end of the bargain. Lets go” Nikolai grabbed Y/N upper arm lightly and lead her through the palace from behind her, pushing her arm to steer them through dark corridors and past locked doors. Upon entering a small, dimly lit room Nikolai released her. The room almost resembled that of her cabin on her ship with deep crimson curtains held high up the walls and a large four poster bed in the centre of the room layered with heaps of blankets.

“Don’t try to leave there’s numerous guards posted outside your door and below the windows”

“Bit extreme” No it wasn’t.

“Is it? If I remember correctly you’re one of the most wanted pirates Ravka has seen in years, you specilise in escape of not only yourself out of situation but are capable of making a horde of people seemingly disappear. You managed to weasel your way out of my company once before and I don’t think you’d hesitate to do it again given the chance. So no I don’t think my precautions are too extreme”

Yeah. She’d say that was fair. The King stepped back as Y/N began to wonder around the room, touching the fabric of the bed and inspecting the fine wood work of the fire place.

“You not going to put the fire on for your guests?”

“You’re a pirate” Nikolai laughed.

“So are you”

“Privateer” He corrected. Now it was Y/N turn to laugh.

“Same thing. One of us is just in denial” Not responding to her, Nikolai clasped his hands behind his back and turned to leave.

“Goodnight Little Pirate”

“Are you not going to ask for it back?” She wasn’t done with him just yet. He turned only his head to the side, his back facing her, as if in sudden question.

“What back?” He turned fully to her once more, his eye brows furrowed in confusement.

“Your or should I say Sturmhond’s necklace” She wanted to joke more with him but when he started towards her she began to panic afraid he’d suddenly lunge at her throat for what she remembered as possible the third time tonight? But her breath hitched when he stopped before her and put his hands behind her neck, leaning in with his head to the side as to not have to stare into her eyes. His hands found the clap of the necklace from under the back of her dress and he unclipped it. Pulling away, the stone slid slightly down her chest as it loosened before he moved his hands back, the jewelry coming with it. She tired not to seem too baffled by his quick movement but had to look down as to not let her eyes betray her as his face was inches from hers.

“I’m not sure what I would have said if you asked, but if you wanted the necklace back on the boat I believe I might have been convinced to give it to you rather than you having to steal it” His voice was quieter as if he himself was unsure of if he should be saying it or not.

“And now? If I asked for you to give it back to me?”

He stared back at her, at what she might have noticed was her lips if she didn’t have her eyes locked on the ground.

“Well I’m not sure what I’d say now either” They were stood in silence, only their slow breaths made a noise in the dark room.

“Goodnight pretty boy” Y/N moved away first. Nikolai only hummed in response as he left the room. And only as she huffed deeply and moved to the window did she recognise the sound of footsteps hurrying away from her door to then resound once more outside the wood. Thinking Nikolai had returned she pulled the door open quickly before he could knock against it, only to be met with a guard holding a stack of wood.

“For the fire miss?”

She deflated and walked over to the bed as the guard lit the fire and met two others outside her door. Of course Nikolai wouldn’t come back. Why? To read her a bed time story? To help relax her tight shoulders or warm her cold hands? She was acting like a giggly school girl and she needed to stop. Hearing the click of a lock, Y/N allowed her eyes to become heavy as the events of the evening began to lay down on her body and sent her off into a deep sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Nikolai 

Nikolai had been awake long before sunrise but he wasn’t sure if it was the fear of waking up drenched in sweat, black talons clawing at his own body and screaming for help that kept him up or if it was the prospects of traveling beyond enemy lines with one of the worlds most feared pirates that stopped his brain from shutting up long enough for sleep to take over. Regardless, the sun was starting to peak from the horizon and so he deemed now a reasonable time to pull said pirate out of her bed and begin their journey. 

Walking down the corridors only just beginning to light up with the morning sun, Nikolai stuffed the edge of his white shirt into his black pants and pulled up his suspenders that hung at his sides before nodding at the guards stood outside The Ghosts door and walking straight in. 

He could almost laugh at the sight. In front of him lay one of the most accomplished pirates whose name struck fear into those across the lands flat out on top of the bed, her red dress from the night before wrapped strangely around her body as her hair reached out in all different directions, a line of drool falling down the side of her mouth as her head lay on top of her outstretched arm that hung half off the bed. Moving over to the window, he pulled open the curtains in one great sweep allowing the sunrise to burst through the glass illuminating the room in a sheet of yellows and pinks. The noise made the woman shoot up in an instant and she made a half gasp as she furiously looked around the room. Wiping the drool from her mouth, she flattened out her hair in a huffy as she noticed Nikolai stood with at the end of the bed with both arms leaning against the frame as he leaned forward. 

“Rise and shine”

“Saints what time is it?

“Time to get up. We have a few things to do before everyone else gets up” Nikolai moved to the great oak wardrobe in the corner as Y/N slid off the bed a slow heap. 

“What things?”

“Well I’d like think you’d want to get your old clothes back before we head to Fjerda unless you wish to sail across the sea in that dress?” Nikolai clasped one dark blue cloak from out the wardrobe and threw it toward her by the bed. She picked it up as she stood to stretch. 

“You left your regular clothes with the dress rental right?” Nikolai knew no pirate owned such garments let alone what he recognised as a hand laced gown. She mumbled a yes in response and told Nikolai of a vague explanation of the shop she went to. 

“Great now lets go while the city’s still asleep”

The Ghost held up the cloak before throwing it over her shoulders and wrapping it around her frame, the fabric immediately drowning out the bright red of her dress as it sweeped the floor. Nikolai instructed her to follow him as he made his way back to his chambers, checking back behind him every so often to make sure she kept up with him. 

Upon entering his room, he went straight to his own wardrobe and took out and equally as long green cloak. Pulling it on he turned to face her as she stood in the middle of his room. He assumed she’d wait at the door or at least feel somewhat awkward as she stood before his room but as turning around he was aghast at the audacity of her waltzing around the room before stopping by his bed frame to poke the chains that hung off the wood. 

“A bit kinky don’t you think?” She smirked as she inspected the metal. 

“Not funny” Nikolai hissed as he came up behind her and pushed her towards the door lightly with his hands on her shoulders as she laughed. 

“It’s a little funny. Then again the way you handled yourself yesterday, it’s no surprise the king knows how to keep it exciting in the bed room”

“Stop it”

“Embarrassed?”

“No I just want you to stop talking about my sex life so loudly in the halls” He had let go of her shoulders as the made their way down and through the palace. “Now put your hood up I don’t want anyone to see us” He said as he pulled up the hood of his own cloak and led them out a back door of the palace toward the city. Y/N guided them the rest of the way as they walked further into the rougher parts of Os Alta. Rapping on the back door of a small building hidden deep in the city, Y/N looked back at Nikolai who raised an eyebrow expectantly at the pirate. The two of them stood closely under the shelter of the door frame as a sheet of rain began to fall upon the city. 

A small old woman hunched over a large cane opened the peep hole in the middle of the door and glared at the two.

“What do you want?” Her voice was croaky and Nikolai deemed she’d just woken up.

“It’s me. I need my clothes back” Y/N spoke quietly toward the hole. 

“Ah the she yes yes and who is this?” Nikolai felt her beady eye pierce into him as he lowered his head so she could only she a slither of his face from beneath his cloak. 

“Just a friend. Hurry up its pouring it down out here” Nikolai heard a click of what sounded like several locks before the small door creaked open and they followed inside. Y/N immediately went behind a partition upon entering, leaving Nikolai stood in the centre of a dark back room. 

“You’re a pretty one where’d she find you and how can I get myself a one?” The old woman stood in front of Nikolai but due to her height it felt like he was stood over her as he looked down and realised she could clearly see under his hood due to her tiny height. 

“I’m an apprentice with the shipwright ma’am” Nikolai tried but the old woman laughed as Y/N appeared from behind the partition fastening a silver sun buckled belt around the waist of her blue coat. 

“You are far to hansom to be working the docks and you’d be far to stupid to think I’d believe such a thing” 

“We’ll be leaving now” Y/N saved his ass as she pushed him towards to door and turned back to the old lady. 

“Thank you for the dress last night”

“You’re welcome little she” Nikolai stepped out of the shop and looked back at the two as Y/N clasped her hand on the woman’s arm, the woman doing the same. He heard something along the lines of “King” and “Idiot” from the woman as Y/N answered her quick questions, eager to leave the store. She hurried after Nikolai and joined him in the street as she pulled her cloak back on and yanked the hood up, the two of them melting away their identities. 

“What did she say?” Nikolai asked. 

“She knew who you were” She said calmly. 

“What how?”

“She knew what I planned to do last night and the fact that I showed up this morning with you by my side rather than collecting my shit last night before leaving probably suggested to her enough that I failed. She put two and two together. You’re a good looking blonde wearing an velvet cloak and i’m in a pissy mood, it’s not hard to figure out” She turned to walk the opposite direct to the way they came but Nikolai stepped in front of her. 

“Where are you going?”

“To find the rest of my crew. You don’t think it was just me and my first mate last night do you?” Nikolai looked down at her as she went to move again but he stepped in her way. 

“Not so fast. I’ll get someone else to find them before we leave but I’m not letting you out of my sight”

“Afraid I’ll run away?”

“Yes that’s exactly what you’d do”

“Good you do have a brain cell it appears” Nikolai didn’t respond but rather turned them around and back toward the palace, shoving her in front of him as she laughed. He was growing tired of doing this and it wasn’t even noon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikolai and Y/N set sail on their rescue mission

The Ghost/Y/N

They didn’t enter back the way they came but rather around the far side of the palace past the guards watch and down a tunnel opening up into a large stone hall under the ground with a river running down the side of it, a great ship with wings sat on the waters. Y/N noticed the ship was the same she had stepped across just a week ago after conning Sturmhond and smiled while watching a few men walking up and over it carrying supplies aboard. 

“Ah that brings back memories” She spoke as Nikolai caught her eye and glared. 

“What of holding me at knife point?”

“Good times felt like just last week” Y/N dramatically lay her hand over her heart and winked at the blond beside her. 

“I’m beginning to realise how much of a joker you are-wait” Y/N stopped as Nikolai pulled at her cloak. “I don’t even know your name? Only The Ghost and I’m not calling you that”

“I thought Little Pirate was your thing” 

His face was deadpan as he looked at her. 

“What? I’m not telling you I have an alias for a reason” She carried on walking down toward the ship, Nikolai chasing behind her.

“But you know I’m Sturmhond”

“That’s not my fault”

“You’re not being fair” 

Y/N turned around in an instant and raised her hand at her sides

“Pirate” She admitted. 

Y/N heard a yell of Captain from past her and both her and Nikolai turned. Out from a smaller tunnel hidden in the side of the hall emerged Yuta beside Zoya, followed by Genya and David. Yuta ran toward Y/N with a smile on her face. 

“You’ll never guess how well I slept Captain urgh that bed was amazing much better than the one back on the sh-” She stopped mid way as she saw the look on her Captain’s face. 

“No go ahead Yuta what were you going to say?” Nikolai interjected with a smile on his face.

“Nothing your Majesty” She mumbled while looking down and away from Y/N sharp gaze. Y/N only hummed in response. Nikolai had split off from her and was talking to David by the arch of the walk way they had just emerged to then turn back to her with a smile on his face. 

“You’re in luck two of your little crew were spotted by the city gates this morning and are being dragged up here as we speak” Saints Juno and Astrid were probably going half mad without knowing what had happened. Just as he finished speaking a guard brought two struggling women out from where the three Grisha and Yuta had come just minutes before. Astrid saw Y/N first and struck the meek guard in an instant to run at her, Juno close behind. It took a minute or two but after they had settled with reuniting with their Captain, Y/N began into explanation as to what happened and to where they were heading. 

“Fjerda? Are you insane” Juno spat at the king. 

“Watch your mouth Pirate” Zoya hissed from beside her. Nikolai appeared unfazed. 

“Unless you want to see your Captain hang for her attempted crimes against the crown, with you following shortly after, I’d suggest you listen to your Ghost and come with us” Y/N almost flinched at Nikolai’s response, it was then that she saw both the King in him and the feared pirate he had come to be.

“Juno we’ll be fine we’ve done it before” Yuta muttered.

It was Astrid who spoke next. “We’ve gotten ourselves out of sticky situations before but smuggling fifteen Grisha kids out of a Fjerdan camp is another thing Captain it’s a death wish” 

Y/N was getting angry and stepped in front of the fiery red head, feeling Yuta take a step back in precaution. They often got into fights on the seas, different crew arguing over food or rank order but it only ever took Y/N one step to get them to shut up before they dared question the command of their Captain. 

“You’ll do best to listen to me Astrid. We go with them and die or they hang us here. To question the King is to question whether or not we live to see our ship again. Now shut up and do not doubt my ability to do my job again nor the ability of Juno’s and Yuta’s no less yourself. We are pirates and this is what we do. Do you understand?” She spoke in a low voice only loud enough for Astrid, Nikolai and Yuta who stood closest to hear. She would not have her own crew doubt their abilities. 

Astrid nodded in submission. 

“Good” 

“We’re all set to go Captain” A sailor shouted from the ship in the river. Nikolai responded in thanks and ushered everyone aboard, Y/N’s three crew falling into step beside her. 

The ship lurched forward as the forward side of the wall that was half wood pulled open. allowing the ship to sail forward down the water. Genya appeared beside her and smiled.

“You might want to hold on for this” With the ship now out in the open, the great wings on the side curved up and caught a gust of wind, lurching the ship high into the air. Y/N stomach dropped as the ground moved further away and she grabbed onto the side of the decking. Looking up at the quarter deck, Nikolai had abandoned his cloak and now donned his emerald green coat as he held the steering wheel and shot a wink in her direction. She thought she might vomit as the ship dropped slightly before she caught herself and reminded her brain it was as if they were on the sea rather than 100 ft up in the air. But looking at her three crew, their faces reflected her own. This was going to be hell. 

By the time Y/N stomach had settled it was almost sundown and the ship had dropped into the sea just off the coast of Ravka. Yuta, Juno and Astrid were just as sick as Y/N and all sat in a crumpled heap by the edge of the ship. Y/N even thought she heard one of them vomit at some point but was too distracted with trying to get her sea legs again to care. 

“You’d think pirates would be good at flying? It just like sailing but in the air”

“Fuck off Nikolai” 

“Now that’s not very nice. Here” He held out a small cup of what Y/N guessed as water and she reached for it but he pulled it back out of reach. 

“What’s your name?” 

“What?”

“Name for water” Y/N was going to throw him over board. 

“No”

“No water for you then”

“Nikolai wait-” He turned with a smirk on his lips and eyebrows raised ready to hear her name. She stretched her back with her hands on her hips, finally seeming more like herself as she felt the sea under her feet and the salt air flow through her hair. Walking forward the put on her best sick puppy look. 

“My name… it’s” She lept forward and lunged for the cup. Nikolai tried to react but she had nudged him out of the way, tripping him to the floor. He sat up in an instant but Y/N already stood over him with the cup in hand smirking. 

“Don’t you dare” He warned but Y/N had already poured the rest of the water over him after she took a gulp.

“Oops” Y/N heard her three crew members laugh and even a giggle out of Genya and Zoya who sat on the steps of the ship. “I’m so sorry your highness I’m just so uneasy at the moment it must be the sickness throwing me off balance” She made a mock face of apology as she took in the sight of him but as she realised his white shirt had become somewhat see through with the water, she stepped away from him and back to her crew before she could blush at the sight of his torso. 

Joining the others she unhooked her cloak she didn’t even notice she was still wearing and passed it to Yuta who looked the most sick out of the three as she sat by them. 

“Get it together ladies we have a reputation to uphold” 

Looking back at the rest of the ship, Y/N noticed there were few crew members besides the essential and the three Grisha. She presumed it was to make space for the fifteen kids they were about to rescue, the spare piles of blankets and food crates she noticed by the stairs to below deck hinting at the oncoming horde of starving teenagers they would attempt to sneak out from under the noses of enemy men. Y/N stomach flipped once more but not at the thought of sailing through the air or seeing Nikolai’s wet shirt. They were about to walk right into a hornets nest of angry Fjerdan warriors with Y/N as bait and the king of Ravka as back up. What could go wrong? 

It flipped once more. 

A lot could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leigh Bardugo just revealed the next King of Scars cover and title as 'Rule of Wolves' and I'm sooooo excited.
> 
> I swear we'll be getting some more Nikolai x Y/N action soon I just needed them to get out on the mission I promise I have some grossly fluffy and perhaps smutty things coming soon


	9. Chapter 9

Nikolai 

Nikolai wasn’t sure why he even bothered to change his shirt. Emerging from out of his cabin while finishing at the buttons of his now dry shirt, he huffed as he noticed the clouds above begin to darken. Walking out onto the deck he looked in the direction the others stared at and was faced with the ominous horizon of black skies and rough seas. Realising the danger they were in he immediately moved to the quarter deck taking two steps at a time as he was met with Y/N’s dark gaze as she spoke to Tolya who had taken a hold of the ships wheel. 

“Took your time we’re about head right into that” Looking at the direction Y/N pointed towards, Nikolai noted the sparks of electricity that shot down from the air as the storm thickened. 

“No thanks to you” He was going to get Y/N back for pouring water on him but for now the great sheet of thunder that began to swallow up the ship was his top priority. Leaning over the edge of the deck to down below, Nikolai yelled for Zoya who moved among the crew as she pulled up the hood of her Kefta and helped secure barrels to the side with Y/N’s first mate. 

“Think you could do something about this Nazyalensky?” 

She look up as the rain began to fall upon them, squinting past the drops at her King and throwing up her arms. 

“I can summon storms not send them away dumbass” She returned to help the others as Nikolai turned back to the pirate and his Shu friend. 

“Here” He moved Tolya out of the way and took charge of the wheel, holding it steady as the waves began to crash harder against the ship. 

“Take in the sails” He yelled over the ship as Tolya jumped down and meet his sister at the centre of the ship to help the others at Nikolai’s command. But Y/N took Nikolai’s place where he leaned over the banister to look upon the others. 

“No we must heave to and ride with the waves through the storm” She yelled back and the crew stopped to look up at them both. 

“Are you mad? You expect us to sit in the eye of the storm?” He asked her before locking the wheel in place and moving to where she stood. Addressing his crew he shouted over the storm “Bring her in, we go through the storm” 

“Are you stupid ? We slow the ship and let the sea carry us through”

“I know how to sail my own ship Little Pirate”

“I’ve been doing this much longer than you have Nikolai and in far worse conditions. We adopt storm tactics and wait it out” She yelled as rained soaked them both and the sound of waves crashing at the ship forced them to shout louder. 

“I’m the Captain and my crew will do as I say” He turned toward the rest of them who awaited confirmation of duties. 

“Tolya I swear to Saints if you bring in those sails I’ll come down there and break your arms” Y/N warned as the tall Grisha moved toward the sails but froze after she spoke. 

“Tolya?” Nikolai was almost astonished as his sailor didn’t continue with his command. 

“Sorry Captain she scares me more than you do” He confessed before Y/N yelled back at the ship instructing them to tighten the sails and prepare to wait it out all the while smirking. 

“Seriously?”

Huffing loudly Nikolai grabbed at Y/N’s arm and edged her down the stairs as the rest of the crew finished tightening the ship and submerged below decks out of the rain. Ensuring everyone was safely inside, he turned to shut the hatch before making his way further into the ship that was now lit up in a light glow from the various oil burners hanging from the ceiling and the occasional crack of lightening from the portholes. Past hanging beds and crates of supplies, Nikolai found the others around a large wooden table in the corner. Y/N’s crew beside her first mate were leaning against the wooden beams talking with his other sailors while the pirate, her second and his Grisha sat around the table with Tamar shuffling a set of cards in her hand and beers began to be pasted down from the the crates in the back. 

“A round of cards your Highness?” Y/N winked from her side of the table. Still annoyed at is crew for following her orders instead of his, he simply huffed and took a seat beside David as a series of card were passed to him. 

“The stakes?” questioned Genya as each person avoided each others eyes and observed their deck. 

Zoya, seemingly pleased with her dealings, suggested the winner of each round can request one thing of another person to which everyone agreed before they began dealing in their cards. One by one they lay their stakes while trying to figure out who was bluffing. Zoya, David and Yuta admitted defeat and placed their weak deck on the table. Nikolai looked past his cards at Y/N whose face was unreadable. Genya was smiling at her cards but Nikolai called a bluff and she huffed dramatically as she too layed her poor deck on the table. Now all focus was on The Ghost. 

“Your stake?” He knew exactly what she’d ask for. 

“Your necklace” He knew it. “And you?” He thought for a moment before answering. 

“Your name” Nikolai heard the others laugh and oo at the two of them, finding the exchange exciting.

“Four of a kind” She spoke her hand out allowed, admitting she had four of a King or Queen as she lay them downwards on the table. 

“Royal Flush” He admitted. It was higher than hers and would mean he’d won.

“Fuck off” She laughed and everyone oo-ed, Zoya and Yuta staring at the King to call his bluff, Tolya and Genya laughing at the tenseness and David calculating the probabilities in his head with his hand on his chin. 

“You still betting?” She nodded.

“You first then” He suggested and Y/N flipped her cards revealing she had in fact been telling the truth and held four Queens in her deck. All eyes landed on him as he held her stony gaze. Laying his cards flat on top of hers the room erupted in a roar of shouts and laughter as his desk showed only two aces. He had lost. 

“You liar” She laughed as she reached her hand out in front of him. The others laughing as well began another game but Nikolai remained distracted by her hand. Reaching behind his neck he un-clipped the necklace and handed it to her for the second time this week. He went to mention it to her from over the rest of the group that talked among themselves while they played but he froze when his hands touched hers in the exchange. His icy fingers grazed her warm palm as he passed the chain and looked up. Her eyes met his and her face turned unreadable once more as he let his finger stroke across her skin slowly as he pulled his hand back. With her hand still hovering in the air with the necklace in her grasp she went to say something but Tolya poked at her arm indicating it was her turn to play again. 

As the day turned into night and the storm above continued to beat down above deck, the crew began another game and told stories as beers were drank and laughter shared. But as Nikolai look over his crew and the four pirate women, he couldn’t help but wonder if Y/N’s stomach had flipped the same as his when he touched her hand across the table. Shaking the thought he returned the smile on his face and joined in with the others, only looking back at Y/N once to she her do the same to his, their gaze meeting for only a second before they rushed to look elsewhere. And so he deemed he would need to abandon the thoughts that swelled in his brain about her soon if he was decided to complete this mission not distracted and unscathed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to google what 'Heave to and take in sail' meant as I had heard it in Pirates of the Caribbean before but had no idea what it meant. As well as googling how to play poker. Everydays a school day I guess.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N is abruptly woken by the sea and has to deal with a couple problems that come her way

The Ghost 

When Y/N woke up it wasn’t from the gentle rock on the water or her first mate poking her face, but rather her both falling from her hammock and slamming on the floor as the ship crashed into the fierce ocean waves. Grumbling, she rolled on her side and noticed the others were still deep asleep as the sky was still dark from what she could see through the porthole on the far side of the ship. She guess it was probably around 3am as the final candles surrounding the crew snuffed out after hours of burning. The ship felt too loose however. She could feel the deck below her move more rapidly, forcing her to sway from side to side to prevent falling and the wood of the ship creaked louder and louder with every pounding from the waves. She recognised the sounds as the ship moving when it shouldn’t and ran up the stairs to the main deck. 

Upon opening the hatch she was hit with a gust of wind that almost sent her back down the steep stairs as the rain water began to wet her hair and shirt. She would soon regret not grabbing her coat. Pushing against the weather, she made it on top of the boat and looked through the storm to see the sails that were supposed the be stretched out half dragging against the deck, shoving the ship rapidly through the sea rather than allowing it it catch the wind. But what was more peculiar was that out from behind the cream fabric of the sail that draped across the deck was a shadow moving behind it. 

“Nikolai?” She asked herself and low and behold the King emerged from behind the sail heaving a rope under it and pulling his weight to the floor. 

“What are you doing out here?” He yelled across the rain as his eyes met hers. He was sopping wet and his green coat did no good to prevent that water from soaking his body. His hair lay flat against his head as water moved down his tan face and the darkness of the early morning made his eyes appear black through the sheet of water. Knowing all to well about the dangers of a loose sail, Y/N moved to help Nikolai pull the ropes tight, her hands just down from where his pulled. 

“I could ask you the same thing” She shouted while concentrating on the ropes, feeling him just behind her doing the same. “Why didn’t you get me to help?” The rope pulled quickly away from her and she hissed as the slippy fabric cut at her palms. The two moved quickly as they pulled on the count of three and the sail came taught against the side of the deck as they worked to secure it. 

“I didn’t need your help” He spoke back, wincing as the rain beat harder down on them. Before she could respond she caught the movement of the other sail breaking loose and swinging towards the king who had his back turned. 

“Look out” Running toward him, she pulled him on top of her as she fell to the ground, the sail narrowly missing where Nikolai had stood. Not allowing either of them to think too much about how he held his body off of hers with his elbows by her head and their faces inches apart, she rolled out from under him and met the swing of the sail, dragging it back to the opposite side of the ship. 

“A little help would be nice pretty boy” She heaved the wooden beam away from her but her feet were slipping on the wet wood. Nikolai appeared beside her and they worked to push the sail parallel to the previous one, tying it back in place as she ship began to settle once more. 

With the sails back in place, the two stared at each other in the rain breathing hard, Y/N with her hands on her hips as the pain from him landing on her began to settle. 

“A thank you would suffice for saving your ass” She suggested but Nikolai laughed shortly in response. 

“Come on I have spare clothes in my cabin you can borrow” He nodded towards the other side of the ship where his room lay beneath the quarter deck. 

“Is that how you get the girls into your room?” He laughed once more as he walked backwards to look at her. 

“I know better ways to get women into bed. Now do you want dry clothes or not?” Failing to respond, she hurried after him and entered his room. The cabin was large at near half the size of where the others slept. The first section of the room was a wide open space with a large table in the middle covered in maps similar to those on his desk back at the palace but now with markers dotted on the Fjerdan Isle. The rear wall was a half moon shape of windows with the rain beating against them behind the red velvet curtains that hung at the sides open. Walking further in, his more personal quarters were to the left in a smaller section of the room cut into the space with a double bed tucked in the corner, a tall armoir against the back wall and a long mirror propped in the nook besides a cabinet full of books and trinkets. The act of him pulling out things from his wardrobe became familiar as Y/N recalled him pulling out a cloak for her just yesterday morning but that felt as if it was weeks ago. 

“Here” He turned around holding out a black shirt to her and a pair of black trousers she already knew were two sizes too big but she took them regardless, pleased to at least get into warm dry clothes rather than her sticky wet pants that molded to her legs and her dripping wet shirt that clung to her body. She coughed once after realising the king had yet to turn around for her as he continued to stare as she went to lift her shirt. 

“Don’t stop on my account Pirate” He gestured for her to continue but she grabbed a near by book to launch it at his head, the leather journal bouncing off him as he flailed his arms and turned around to admit defeat.

“Okay okay I’m not looking” Peeling off her pants and shirt, she slipped into the dry clothes and walked past the king to place herself in a great leather armchair by the table. Nikolai followed after but lent against the table looking down at her. Falling into a comfortable silence, she closed her eyes as the hours began to catch up on her and fatigue settled in her bones. The quiet was cut short though by the sound of a crunch and Y/N looked to see Nikolai carving slices out of an apple and placing them in his mouth. 

“Want some?”He angled his knife towards her with a slice hanging off the edge and she happily accepted as she stood up and leaned besides him, looking down at the map. 

“I’m guessing you have a plan for all this then” She nodded towards the Fjerdan maps and the small camp that held a knife in it, that’s where she assumed the barbaric warriors were holding the Grisha kids. 

“Yes” He turned to face the table. “We’re planning to infiltrate the camp just before night fall, round up the kids and sneak them out under the cover of darkness” He pointed at the camp that was at least two days trek from the shore. 

“We’re? I thought it was just going to be me?”

“I’m not just going to send you in by yourself. I’ll be there too and the others will wait close by”

“Awe you actually care?” She mocked to break the silence that followed.

“Nope”He popped the p at the end “I just don’t want you out of my sight Little Pirate” 

“Seriously? You think even a thousand miles away from my ship and crew I’d run off to save my own ass?” She began to grow defensive. Surely if she wanted to go at it alone he knew she would have left by now. She called bullshit. 

“I’m not sure I know much about you at all Ms Pirate” He rose his eyebrows at her, him seemingly more calm than she. “ I know you’re the infamous Ghost who kills anyone that gets in her way. I know you have tricked me once before and I won’t let you do it again” All true things she had to admit. “And even now I still don’t know your name. So why would I let you go gallivanting alone in lands neither I nor anybody else on this ship know by yourself? So you could just slither away?”

“Why are you so adamant on knowing my name?” She leaned towards him and smiled, enjoying how riled up he got about recalling how quickly she tricked him before in the palace and once more at the cards table. 

“Why are you so arsed about keeping it a secret?” He raised, moving his own body closer to hers in a test of limits. “Is your name something hideously embarrassing?”

“No”

“Then tell me” At least now he was smiling as he leaned closer. No. Why would she care if he was smiling or not? 

“You’re names Gertrude isn’t it?” 

“What? No” 

“Liar”

She let her head tilt back as she laughed. 

“If anyone here’s the liar, it’s you” The space between them grew smaller. 

“Now what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Really? Your little Sturmhond alter ego” 

“Not an alter ego, an alias and you’re avoiding the question” He stood up tall now, moving from the table to stand before her. Y/N never moving her eyes from his, leaned further back against the wood to the point where she was almost sat upon it as he closed in. 

“Why do you want to know so bad?” She tested as their faces got closer. 

“Because Little Pirate” He leaned in. Their knees touching as he looked down at her lips. “I’d like to know the name of the woman whose wearing my clothes” He wore a smirk as she slid up and onto the table, her knees brushing against his thighs as he got closer to stand between her legs. She held her hands heavy on the desk behind her as she leaned away, allowing his body to loom over hers. 

“That’s the only reason?” They spoke in whispers now as their faces grew closer. Their lips almost touching. 

“I’d like to know it for other purposes as well I suppose” 

“Like what?” She questioned, smirking as he moved his head past her face to hover just over her ear, his hands leaning his body over hers as they rested against her sides. 

“I’d like to know what name to call as we-”

“Captain” In barged David from the door. The two pulled away instantaneously, Nikolai ending up almost several meters from the table, pushing his drying curls back in nervous panic. Poor David stood confused by the door before regaining focus. 

“-er- we’re close to the coast now. I just thought I’d warn you” 

“Thank You David” Nikolai mumbled before looking to smile at the Grisha. He left immediately after, following his Grisha upon deck mumbling something about preparing the others, leaving Y/N alone on the table. 

Suddenly feeling foolish she jumped off the table and neatened the ruffled of her shirt before a wave of humility washed over her. She really ought to pull herself together as she realised this was the second time Nikolai had bent her over a table, the air thick with anticipation. With the sunrise looming over the horizon from behind the weathered windows and the storm finally clearing up, Y/N not caring how wet her clothes felt, strung them back on and left Nikolai’s shirt and pants in a heap by the floor. She wouldn’t allow herself the pleasure and warmth of wearing them any longer. They had a mission to fulfill and the beginning of the long trek loomed over her as she saw land begin to clear through the morning haze. 

Soon the tension between the two would be the least of her problems. Or so she hoped as she remembered it would just be her and the King as they stepped into enemy territory with a dozen Grisha teens lives at stake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter I feel so evil dragging out their sexual tension so much but it's just too fun. Leave a comment and kudos if you're enjoying it so far and have a lovely day xoxo


	11. Chapter 11

Nikolai 

He didn’t look at her for the rest of the morning as their ship sailed into Fjerdan waters. Twice now he had let her creep up on him like that and hold his heart in her ice cold grip. Nikolai caught himself in the thought. His heart? He wasn’t about to admit that what was happening between them was affecting his heart. How could he? He had the entire country staring at his back waiting for the young king to fall. And with a group of teenage Ravkan Grisha being taken, the last thing he needed was to lose focus on the matter at hand because some pirate was able to charm her way close enough to him. No. He wouldn’t allow it. While at first he had been consumed by her beauty, at the meek image she portrayed herself as back on the abandoned ship, luring him into a false sense of security to then rob him bare, he now saw he for what she really was- one of the seas most feared pirates. He didn’t know what game she was playing at but he swore on his heart and on Ravka he wouldn’t let her get close to him again. 

“Something troubling you Nikolai?” It was Tolya who appeared besides him. 

“What makes you say that?”

“You’ve tied that knot now twice” 

Looking down Nikolai realised while lost in thought he’d been stood tying and retying a rope to the ships side for almost five minutes.

“Why do you think she won’t tell us her name?” Tolya was clearly not expecting the question as he stared back at his kings face, frowning slightly.

“Perhaps because she’s a pirate. Perhaps because she doesn’t trust us enough yet. Or maybe it’s because she’d a witch whose true name will curse us if we speak it out loud” The taller man laughed. 

“It’s rude to talk about people behind their backs you know?” The two men turned to the left to find Y/N leaning against the banister of the stairs for the quarter deck, one leg bent behind the other, an apple in hand. Tolya immediately mumbled something about helping his sister and scrambled away to leave Nikolai alone with her. Keeping his eye pinned on the sea, not daring to trust himself not to stare at her face if he looked at her. 

“You’re a pirate. Your entire reputation is built off of the tales people tell about you. Surely The Great Ghost doesn’t care?” Finally turning to meet her gaze, he almost jumped as he realised she had taken a step closer to him, his body instantaneously freezing and forcing him to take a step back in response. 

“You know Little King perhaps the reason I won’t tell you my name is because the monsters of the parents who named me left scars on my mind I can’t begin to explain, cuts in my skin I daren’t look at in fear of vomiting. Why would I want to repeat a name that was so often spoken by the two people I despise most in this world?”

Nikolai blushed furiously as he began to apologise. But as he stumbled over his words he stopped as he looked to see her bent over in almost tears of laughter. He soon stopped after he put together that her little show of attack was a joke. 

“I’m sorry I’m sorry” She wiped away her tears while holding in a fit of giggles. “I didn’t know you were that gullible Saints above”

“What?” 

Regaining her composure she stood back straight and began to move past him. 

“Did you ever stop to think that the reason you don’t know my name is purely for confidentiality? Why would I tell the people who are holding me against my will my true name when barely any of my crew even know my name save Yuta and a few others. You said it yourself Nikolai, I’m one of the most feared pirates on the sea, you didn’t really expect me to just tell you my real name at the first kiss on my neck or hand on my waist did you?” Nikolai was stood frozen, he wasn’t sure if it was anger or humiliation that bubbled most in him. “You’re just as naive as they say Nikolai. Perhaps when you stop planning to use my specialties against me and actually regard me as an equal rather than some pirate beneath you I’ll consider giving you my name but until that day it’s The Ghost or Little Pirate which ever his Royal Highness prefers” He frowned. Why was she acting this way? So defensive.

“That’s rich coming from you” He spoke as she moved to walk away, his voice grabbing the attention of others around him. She raised her eyebrow toward him as if he wasn’t even worth her time of day. “You’ve tricked me and held me at knife point not once but twice. You’re as slippery as they come when looking at a pirate and you expect me to trust you? If me trusting you would lead me to knowing your name I guess I’ll never find out because you’re just a lowlife pirate who tried for one loot too big and now has to pay back for the stupid mistake she made. I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you”

“Nikolai calm down” It was David from beside him. Looking up he noticed almost all the crew had stopped their work and stood staring at the two as they blew up in each others faces. Ignoring their stares he turned back to the pirate. 

“You get my Grisha out from Fjerda safely and i’ll let you and your crew run back to whatever hovel you came from and leave me and my people alone” 

“With plessure” She barged past him, nudging his shoulder as she marched over to her four remaining crew on the far side of the ship. Nikolai met Genya’s eyes as she walked over to David and himself. 

“We’ll be reaching land soon I better sort your face out before we get there, we wouldn’t want any Fjerdan’s recognising a king now would we?” Her voice soothed him somewhat as his rage began to simmer down. The movement of her hands over his face transforming him back into Sturmhond distracting him as his words began to haunt him. 

“Hey you okay?” The red headed Grisha asked, moving her head slightly in front of his to pull his focus from the back of the pirate at the opposite side of the ship. 

“I’m fine” Liar.

“It’s okay you know? If you care about her Nikolai, It’s not wrong to just want to know her name” Genya spoke in a hushed tone. 

“I don’t care about her I’ve only known her for what? A week?” He fell back into his funny boy, sarcastic persona. 

“A lot can happen in a week Nik. You know that better than anybody else” He huffed in response. 

“Look I don’t know what just happened there but you both obviously have some tension you need to work out. And in the mean time how about you forget about her name or who she is and think about the kids we’re about to save? Maybe after all this is over and done with she’ll learn to trust us enough to tell us her real name. Until then respect that we have given her no reason to trust us and that this is a business transaction. Her skills for freedom” 

“I just I don’t know I didn’t think she’d be this uptight about her name” 

“She has a reputation to uphold like you, like Sturmhond, she can’t just got telling her real name to every pretty boy she meets”

His eyes lit up “You think she thinks I’m pretty?”

Genya smacked him on the back of his head as he laughed “Would you stop acting like such a boy?”

“Sorry sorry” He continued to laugh as they bickered back and forth before Genya had completed his look of red curls and Sturmhond’s broken nose. Taking his position back behind the wheel of the ship he fell into a calmer daze as he sailed them closer to shore under the cover of the morning haze and he took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer as he took his first step onto Fjerdan soil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was a little short I just wanted them build some angst before they're forced to properly work together in some upcoming chapter. Drop a kudos and comment if you're enjoying it so far. Stay safe and drink plenty of water. Xoxox


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tolya entertains the group as they make their way to the Fjerdan camp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is unedited sorry for any mistakes

The Ghost 

If Y/N thought Ravka rained a lot she soon realised Fjerda beat it ten fold as water fell from the sky in a heavy sheet that covered the miles and miles of rolling hills that lay before her and the even darker clouds that loomed behind them hinted at a worse storm to follow. 

Upon arrival Nikolai reiterated the plan they had devised on the ship the night before. While the others remained aboard to man the ship, the King’s five; Zoya, David, Genya, Tolya and Tamar, would follow The Ghost and Sturmhond to where the Fjerdan soldiers were keeping the young Grisha captive. Once arriving at the outskirts of the camp, Nikolai and Y/N would enter under the guise of Fjerdan soldiers while the five would stay behind as back up to prepare to collect the fifteen kids Nikolai and Y/N would send their way after the two create a distraction of some sort. 

They had been walking for what felt like several hours now and Y/N couldn’t help but laugh at Tolya’s awful poetry about the grass they walked over which thankfully kept the group amused through the never ending rain. 

“The Grass was green, 

it had a sheem, 

it was so magical,

just like a dream” The tall Shu spoke allowed earning a groan of insults following the horrendous attempt at rhyming but he continued despite the pleas to stop. Nikolai even turned to jab his in the side with the hilt of his blade in a playful manner as the two men walked side by side but that seemed to only encourage him to carry on.

“There once was king as hansom as night-” Y/N smirked as she noticed Nikolai’s ears perk up. 

“He liked to believe he was always right-” It was Zoya who laughed the hardest from under her dark hood that shielded her face from the rain. 

“He was skilled on the seas 

and brought men to their knees,

but he often loved to boast-” Y/N didn’t have to see Nikolai’s face from where she walked behind him to know that had rolled his eyes. 

“He was as quick as a whip,

with his sword on his hip 

yet it all came to an end,

when the first who could contend,

would be know as The Ghost” Tolya turned around to smile teasingly as Y/N as the others oo-ed and laughed at the poem. Nikolai remained silent with his head bowed beneath his own hood. 

“That was terrible” Y/N exclaimed from behind, kicking up her boot to slosh a puddle of water in his direction. 

“I’m not done” He held up a finger. 

“She was as beautiful day, 

and could make the seas obey, 

as she traveled far and wide.” Saints save her soul from this man’s will power to never shut the fuck up. 

“One day she lied,

and faked a cry,

to make the little night king appear. 

He went to help,

but let out a yelp,

as he fell into her plan. 

Bewitch the man, 

she believed she can, 

but as the time grew near, 

her plan fell through, 

for what could she do,

and that is how we’re here.” He finished with glee and they all erupted in a chorus of laughter at the terrible poem, all but Nikolai and Y/N who remained silent. 

“Don’t be all sad little Ghost” Teased Tamar. “I’m sure if Nikolai was a smidgen more drunk you would have gotten away with stealing his crown” 

“Unlikely” Nikolai scoffed. “She barely beat me in that fight. I would have never let her get away with my crown” He insisted. 

“Don’t be sour Nikolai” It was David who spoke “She’s beat you twice now. We thought that would have humbled you? We all know you get distracted by a pretty face” He laughed but stopped short when Nikolai removed his hood, glaring at his friend. 

“Don’t” Nikolai warned, the others falling quiet as the air became tense, only the sound of rain between them and the splash of their feet through the mud created any noise. Easing the tension, Genya pointed out that night had began to fall as the group moved further east into the country. Y/N guessed they still had a days left of walking until they would reach the camp and suggested they find shelter for the night as the rain poured heavier and created steel bullets as the wind picked up. Just through a clearing in the valley, they spotted a small abandoned Inn and decided to make camp there for the night. The building was old and weathered by the harsh Fjerdan winters but left enough rooms intact for the group to pair off for the night. 

“Tamar with me” Spoke Zoya as they inspected the wooden building. 

“David go with Genya. Tolya you can have a room to yourself and you” Nikolai turned to Y/N who remained by the door “And you're staying with me” 

“Why?”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight Little Pirate” He smiled annoyingly in her direction but she huffed it off and made her way to the large fire pit in the centre of the room that David began to work on. 

After eating around the large furnace the Grisha had made and wondering the building, Y/N turned her head back to the group as David suggested him and Genya take the first watch with Tolya, Zoya and Tamar following behind, leaving Nikolai and Y/N with the last shift. Taking her leave until then, Y/N walked over to the far room tucked away in the corner of the Inn. It was a small space with a window plopped crookedly in the top of the wall with a singular wooden framed bed placed beside a tiny fireplace that was baron of any kindling or wood. At least it was better than the others that had gaping holes in the stone or smashed windows leaving the rooms bare to the harsh winds and battering storm at hit at the glass. 

Returning for some of the wood from the fire and bidding goodnight the others, Y/N began her own fire in her room and prodded at the layers of sheets that sat at top the bed, it could be worse she thought as the room began to warm slightly. Realising Nikolai would soon be joining her in the tight bed, unless she forced the King to sleep on the floor, she tried to will her body to sleep in a hurry but was met with defeat as a creek of the door sounded. 

Wordlessly Nikolai entered and began to remove his boots, leaving his sword leaning along with Y/N’s against the bottom of the bed. Scooting over, Y/N hinted at the space beside her reluctantly but refused to speak as she was distracted by the movement of his back muscles as Nikolai removed his jacket that was stuck to his skin with the rain water. Hoping the darkness of the room hid the blush she begged to retreat, Y/N shuffled over as the King moved toward the bed. 

“I can sleep on the floor if you want?” He suggested. Were those nerves Y/N could pick up in his voice?

“Don’t be a little bitch just sleep up here with me unless you want to deal with a bad back from the floor as we try to infiltrate a Fjerdan camp tomorrow as well?”

Responding with a huff, Nikolai joined her in the bed but she could fell him trying to stay as far away from her as possible. She even guess half his body was hanging off the bed from how much space she still had. 

“Never shared a bed with a pirate before your highness”

“I’m a pirate too you know” He referred to his currently amber hair and more sun kissed, rugged skin. 

“Thought you were a privateer?” She smiled in the darkness, enjoying teasing him as he immediately responded.

“Don’t test me little pirate”

“Or what?”

“Or i’ll” He turned over to face her, smirking as he met her gaze. “make you sleep on the floor” He hesitated in those last moments. 

“I’d like to see you try?” She bet, but began to squirm as he grabbed a hold of her and attempted to roll her on the other side of him 

“You may be smarter but I’m stronger”

“Maybe but we’ve fought twice now and both times you’re the one whose ended up with his ass on the floor” She let his hands hold her waist as he rolled her over quickly, her body getting hot as the fire breathed against her back.

“To be fair I had been drinking the second time”

“And the first? Were you drunk then or just too enamored by my beauty?” Her laughter fell short as she picked up on Nikolai’s silence and stare on her. 

“Truly, what’s your name?” Not this again 

“Why are you so adamant on knowing?” She tried to move the silence with her awkward laughs. But fell short as his eyes dug dark holes in her, his cold stare silencing her. 

“I want to know your name in case something happens tomorrow” 

Realising she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight and the unlikelyhood of Nikolai repeating her true name to others, Y/N huffed once all the while with a serious face and said

“Y/N. My real name in Y/N Orostead” Nikolai stared back in silence before she turned over to gaze at the crackling fire, her back to the King who remained silent. 

“Happy now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you this was going to be cliche, I just made them share a bed ooooo ;)))))))))))))


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikolai isn't sure what to feel

Nikolai

Nikolai felt as if he could say her name a thousand times over and never get bored.

Y/N

Y/N

Y/N

He repeats in his head, a symphony in his thoughts. Not The Ghost or Little Pirate. Y/N. His Y-. No wait. Why was he thinking so much about her name? It was just- He just-. Her back to his chest as his unconscious body through the night must have pulled her close and he tried not to breath too heavy as his brain started to put together that in the glow of the dying fire, his hand was resting on her hip that happen to have become exposed as her shirt rode up. While he begged his mind not to think on the pirate beside him, his unconscious self obviously thought to take things into its own hands as their bodies became tangled together through the night.

“Stop thinking so much” Her voice mumbled from beside him, immediately causing his body to freeze up and his hands to pull away from her waist, folding them quickly against his chest.

“I wasn’t- what?”

“I can hear you breathing heavily-” The woman turned over, her eyes still closed shut as she snuggled into his chest, clearly not bothered by their intimacy. “Stop it” she huffed as she pulled the thin cover further up over them. Why wasn’t she phased by this? More so why was he? Pulling himself together he imagined the facade of Sturmhond falling upon him as he moved to put his hands behind his head in a semi-natural position. _Just calm down Nikolai you’ve won wars and fought demons and your heart decides to speed up at the touch of a pirate? Pull yourself together_ he urged but as her hand lay upon his stomach, her fingers occasionally twitching against his muscles as she fell back into a sleep, Nikolai figured he needed to get up now or see himself melt at the hands of this Pirate.

Pushing her aside, Nikolai slid out of the bed and allowed himself one moment to stare at her figure wrapped in the sheets as he got changed. Her face had smoothed out and she looked calmer, more at peace, less like she wanted to kill him.

“Why are you staring?” Saints when had she woken up?

“This is the first time I’ve looked at you and you’re not staring daggers back at me” She opened her eyes. Never mind. She wanted to kill him again. And yet as she glared with her hair poking up in all different directions and her face puffy he thought some would might even say -

“You look cute” He should not have said that.

“What?” The pirate sat up with a scowl and bolted across what little space was between her and her outer layers, throwing them on in rush.

“Stop being weird Nikolai” She moved for the door while tying her sword belt around her waist.

“I’m not being weird” He smirked at her “Y/N” Okay he was being a little weird. In an instant, Y/N slammed him against the wall, his mind raced as she pushed her hands against his shoulder, his back hitting the stone.

“Don’t” He suddenly felt more awake and realised who he was messing with. She very clearly didn’t take to his jokes. “I told you my name Nikolai, I didn’t say you could use it” As the damp wall pressed at the back of his head, he too became less and less playful as his face molded into a scowl.

“Get over yourself pirate. I was joking . You know that thing people do?” He pushed off from the wall and fixed a crease in his coat before continuing past her “Saints above watch over me as I walk into the lions den with this one”. Satisfied with her gasp from behind him, he smirked and walked out into the main room of the Inn. Tolya was already awake and prodding at the dead fire in the hearth as Genya and David emerged from their room followed by a sleepy looking Tamar and a grouchy Zoya. It appeared very few of them were morning people.

Following a sluggish move for the last grab for warmth by the fireplace, mumbles of morning greetings made their way through the group as they slowly awoke and began to remember the task at hand. Nikolai cursed as he heard the continued pour of rain from outside and huffed a loud as he wished the rain to stop, but as they left the Inn and began further into the forest, it appeared as if the storm would never pass.

Looking back behind him his eyes settled on Y/N as she kept her head low, her hood hiding her from the water. She was as quiet as the rest of them but he couldn’t figure out if it was from her thinking over the plan or if the damp of her cloak had started to strain through the rest of her clothes.

“When are you going to tell her?” Zoya appeared beside him as he lead them through the dense woods, over mossy logs and through small streams, the canopy above becoming thicker and thicker, covering them shadows.

“What?”

He looked to his left and raised his eyebrows, attempting to pull off a confused look, but his second knew him too well.

“Don’t act dumb pretty boy. You like her” She stated. Nikolai almost choked before regaining his composure.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Nazyalensky”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really now if you would be as so king as to drop it-”

“It’s okay to like her you know?”

Nikolai kept his voice low as he whisper shouted from under his own hood.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Who said it before?” Zoya smiled looking back at the group that followed slowly, the sound of the rain hitting the huge leaves above creating enough ruckus to cover their hushed voices.

“Genya” Nikolai rolled his eyes as he nodded toward the redhead.

“Of course she did” She laughed “We see the way you look at her” Zoya was playing a dangerous game and the king was beginning to get annoyed.

“No you don’t. I don’t look at her in any type of way and even if I did why is it anybodies business the way I look at her? It’s not like I’m going to act upon anything”

“Why because she a pirate?” Zoya was quite clearly enjoying Nikolai’s flustered ramblings.

“No. I mean yes. Yes but no. It’s not anybodies business the way I look at her and I don’t plan on doing anything with whatever I’m feeling. And besides why would I ? Like you said she’s-”

“So you do feel something?”

“No I-”

“Guys look” Tamar interrupted from behind them. Nikolai hadn’t even realised how far they walked as he looked down past the trees into a clearing. Below the oak and the green lay what was more like a small village than a camp. This was where the Fjerdans were keeping the Grisha.

The group moved low as they spread out and got into position while Nikolai observed the camp. While small leather tents lined the outside of the clearing, it was what lay just past the them that caught his eye. The camp had been set up just by a great hole carved into the side of the mountain where the forest met its end and the glow of a furnace and movement of shadows from the entrance told Nikolai if those Fjerdan bastards were keeping a bunch of snappy Grisha kids anywhere, it’d be twenty feet below the surface where they couldn’t run.

“Just there in the mine” He pointed ahead as Y/N crouched beside him, the others haven already moved into the cover of darkness. “That’s where they’ll be keeping them”

“Yeah no shit your Highness that doesn’t take a genius to figure out” She rolled her eyes then grabbed his wrist as he pointed, moving it in the opposite direction to point at a group of men surrounding the large fire just outside the cave. “And they look to be the ones in command. It’d be safe to assume they also have some sort of meeting room down there too so we’ll have to time it right as to not have to run into any of them”

Looking down and into the valley the nerves of infiltrating the Fjerdan camp began to settle. If they got caught Nikolai wasn’t sure what he’d do when faced with several 6ft 7 Fjerdan warriors, even if he was as trained as he is.

“Hey” The pirate whispered beside him. “We’ll be fine don’t start to freak out”

“I wasn’t freaking out and what you’ve successfully snuck fifteen kids out of an underground prison before have you?” He poked back.

“No but Fjerdans are as dumb as they are big. We just have to be quick and quiet. Okay?”

He nodded, keeping his eyes trained on one particularly rugged looking solder who wore an angry scowl and held a heavy axe.

“Okay”

“Great-” She grabbed his wrist and began down the hill, slipping into the side of the camp border, pulling up her hood as she winked back at the king. “Just follow my lead”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're all enjoying it so far. I told you in was slow burn butttttt that doesn't mean some things won't happen soon so prepare yo self ;))). Remember to drink plenty water and stay safe xoxo


	14. Chapter 14

The Ghost 

Entering the camp, Y/N sent a silent thanks to which ever Saint was watching over her as the beginnings of dusk helped her and Nikolai pass along the edge of tents under the cover of the darkness that was quickly moving in. Looking back for a brief moment her eyes met Nikolai’s hazel ones from under his hood as they slipped behind the building closest to entrance of the cave. While tracking the routine of the soldiers that guarded the great wooden door she noted that each Fjerdan on watch would walk back and forth to the centre of the camp, appearing more and more drunk each time as they joined in with the festivities by the fire. She counted each second over and over until concluding they’d have thirty seconds between each guards post change to run across the camp and slip through cave door. Turning to face the man beside her, Y/N almost forgot that Nikolai’s wrist was still in her grasp until he moved and with him his sleeve scrunched up exposing his bare skin to her hand. She was quick to pull away as embarrassment settled in as she realised Nikolai was staring right at where her hand had held his. 

“Sorry I-” 

Nikolai brushed her off with an incoherent murmer and stayed silent as he nodded toward the drunken guard whose shift was about to change. So Nikolai had been counting too? Prehaps thats why he hadn’t questioned her grasp in his wrist all that time.

“Ready?” Y/N whispered behind him. Not giving him a chance to respond, she bolted out from their shadow and across the clearing in a low run, Nikolai close behind from the sound of crunching leaves and concentrated breaths. Hearing the passing guard laughing with his friend, Y/N made quick work of the wooden door and pushed it open with a heave, throwing them into a narrow tunnel. 

Before them stood a long corridor, shrouded in a dark damp air, only a far away glow from a few cadged lanterns lit the wet walls that shimmered with some sort of glittering stone that poked from beneath the surface. There were short turn offs along the tunnel that echoed with a low chatter of men, presumably drinking some more as the two stayed close to the shadows. Few walked past her, some too drunk to notice or not bothered enough to care but as the rounded a corner and heard the sound of cries, Y/N knew they had strayed deep into the mountain to where they’d be keeping the Grisha children. 

Despite the mountain morphing into a prison the further they went, it appeared more lively. Recalling it was almost harvest season, a call for celebration, Y/N kept her head low as more and more people rushed past them in a drunken state clearly attempting to pass their night shifts in a state of inebriation. Hearing a more rowdy bunch enter the stone stairwell, Y/N tried not to react as the tallest and most rugged of the men went silent as his boots stood before hers. 

“Where are you going?-” The man stunk of beer as his hand moved to brush back her hood. “You’re a pretty thing aren’t you” He spoke in the rough Fjerdan tongue. She began to freeze up knowing despite hers and Nikolai’s joint skill they would clearly draw unwanted attention in causing a fist fight twenty feet below the surface. 

“Speak little mouse” His voice was more assertive and angered, it even took Y/N a moment to unravel his far from sober words back into her own language, her Fjerdan being rusty. 

“She’s with me” Y/N tried not to react as Nikolai’s perfect accent spoke from behind her. The Fjedan looked Nikolai once over before laughing. Since when could he speak Fjerdan?

“I can make you feel a lot better than he ever could little mouse” The Captain slurred at her. 

“I doubt that” Nikolai hissed back, clearly unaware she could understand everything they were saying. “And i’ll be taking her now” Regardless, she let his wrap his arm around her waist as he steered them around the men and down the steps. Once clear he turned back to her with a look she placed as worry. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine Nikolai” She brushed off as she made her way further through the hallway before stopping at a door she’d been looking for. 

“Bingo” She beamed as the door which appeared more grand and larger than the others clicked open. 

“What are you doing?” Nikolai panicked from behind her. 

“You think whatever locks their using on the Grisha cages can be easily picked?” Moving over to the large desk strewn with papers and knifes on the far side of the room just past a large can, opy bed.

“What is this place?” 

“It’s the leaders room and” she turned back to wink “just the place we’d find the keys for the Grisha” She noted as she rummaged through the desk draws and under sheets. 

“How do you know he doesn’t have them on him” Nikolai countered. 

“Because that man back there was the leader and he wasn’t wearing them. They’re as dumb as they come round these parts Nikolai” Y/N had noticed the blue cuff around the drunken man’s arm as soon as she saw him move down the hallway and immediately picked him out as the leader presumably coming to collect his friends for drinks while the night was still young.

Following her explanation, the two began searching through the room until Nikolai pointed out a shift in one of the frames hung against the wall. Reaching past him she nudged the painting aside to reveal a dug hole in the wall, a dull set of keys staring back at them. In a rush of excitement, Y/N grabbed for the metal and turned to Nikolai before she noticed a shift in light from under the door. They both froze, her stomach dropping. Somebody was about to walk in.

Nikolai joined her shift in movement and cursed as they began to panic realising they’d soon be trapped in the last place they wanted to be if found in the Captain’s room rummaging through his belonging. 

“Nikolai you trust me?” She hurried toward him, her hand on his chest as she pushed him further to the bed. 

“What?” It all happened quickly. Before the door could open fully, Y/N had pulled off her outer layers and top all in one and sat upon Nikolai’s lap as her hands pressed him into the bed, her chest bare as she lay against the King. Nikolai was quite clearly stunned as his eyes went wide but followed her lead as she held his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. The kiss was furious and deep, Y/N mumbling for Nikolai to put his hands on her as her kiss moved to his neck and his fingers dug into her hips as he held her while she pressed her hips against his in slow movement. Hearing a gasp from behind them, Y/N turned to glare at a meek looking solder whose clothes fit too sizes too big and face burned red as he held what appeared to be a tray of beers out in front of him. 

In perfect Fjerdan Y/N spoke across the room.

“Join in or leave” The soldier stumbled over his words as he apologized and rambled on about having only been told to leave beers for his Captain. 

“Your Captain is a bit busy right now boy” Y/N spoke strongly and prayed that all the boy soldier could see was what seemed to be his captain’s body under the naked one of hers, shaded in darkness rather than the Ravkan. The soldier embarrassed, sped to leave the tray of drinks by the door and apologized once more for interrupting his captain and Y/N before leaving in a flash of panic. 

Crisis avoided Y/N’s body began to register the fact that she was indeed sat shirtless on top of the King of Ravka who’s hands held her close as their faces were inches from each other, her chest pressed hard against his, his thin shirt being the only divider as his jacket became undone in the panic. 

“That was-”

“Unexpected” She interrupted him. 

“Smart” He corrected as he smiled up at her. She wasn’t sure if her mind was playing tricks on her but she thought she felt Nikolai’s thumb rub against her hip as she sat upon him. “I didn’t know you could speak Fjerdan” He pointed out while smirking up at her. 

“You either” 

“I guess were both fully of surprises aren’t we?” 

“That we are” They stared at each other in silence for a moment, Y/N staring at his eyes as he looked a down at her lips. 

“We should probably” He began but his voice drifted off at their faces inched closer, her hand still holding one side of his face as her fingers played with his curls. 

“We should probably go” He finished all the while holding her body close to his as his tongue poked out to wet his lip. She hummed in response as she let her body relax and fully weigh upon his, all of her resting on him. 

Realising how stupid they ere being Y/N immediately snapped out of her daze. 

“Yes yes I-er-close your eyes” 

Nikolai appeared to snap out of it too and her hand left his hair and she began to move off him, his face instantly turning to the left to give her some privacy as she peeled herself off of him and threw her clothes back on. 

“Come on we better go I don’t want to be hear any longer” As she rushed them out the room she wasn’t sure herself if she was talking about being in a mountain prison or on top of Nikolai. And looking over at him, his confused frown told her he was thinking the same. 

After following down a couple more tunnels and passageways Nikolai and Y/N appeared outside of a dark dank hallway, the murmur of people echoing from the hall. Ravkan people. The kids. Y/N knew Nikolai thought the same as his body perked up to listen intently. 

Poking her head around the stone wall she counted two guards sat outside of a small metal door with a chunky metal lock slapped in the centre. 

“I’ll take these” She assured Nikolai but he grabbed her arm tightly. 

“What no?”

“Nikolai this is exactly what you brought me for now let me do my job and get your head cleared up before you get us both killed” Straightening herself she moved round the corner. 

“H-hello boys” She spoke in a slurred tone, the words forming barely recognisable Fjerdan tones. The two looked up and one nudged the other, nodding toward her.

“You can’t be down here” The first was clearly not drunk, the second however. 

“You lost?” The drunken on smirked, walking toward her. “How’d you get all the way down here sweetheart?” He asked, lacing and arm around her as he inspected her body while she stumbled about. The man leaned in an Y/N tried not to gag as his smell struck her nose. 

“Here I’ll take you somewhere safe shall I?” The man tried to steer a drunk Y/N away from the second guard who watched the duo, his hand slipping to her ass as he squeezed and hit the final straw. In one quick move, Y/N had slammed him against the wall and pulled his blade that hit beneath his cloak to his throat.

“Did nobody ever tell you not to touch people like that” Not allowing him to respond she smack the back of her hand with the other and drove the knife deep into his throat as he gargled on blood. Before the second guard could react, she thrust the blade from the first neck and launched it at him with a heavy swing, the metal landing deep between his eyes. Gasps were heard from behind the metal door and Y/N stared through the darkness realising the kids could see her through the bars. 

“It’s okay” She went to assure them but stopped short when she saw them through the bars, the key sliding in with a gratifying click to reveal the Grisha.

“Nikolai” She stared at the kids as her stomach dropped once more this evening “This is way more than fifteen”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping the Fjerdan camp may be harder than they thought

Nikolai 

Nikolai had been in a trance ever since Y/N had pulled herself off him. Yet again he found himself completely and utterly speechless at the hands of this pirate and yet again he told himself it was just a physical attraction, the body’s natural response to a beautiful woman pinning him down, it wasn’t anything more. He wouldn’t let it be anything more. But as they spiraled down staircase after staircase and deeper into the mountain’s damp abyss he couldn’t help but let visions of him laughing with her on his ship, training with her flood his brain. Holding her hips, running his hands across her skin, her eyes Saints above her beautiful eyes. 

“Nikolai?” He hadn’t even noticed Y/N had taken care of the guards already as he moved out of the shadows, stepping over the two bloodied heaps of men on the ground. Raising his eyebrows he hummed in question. 

“I said this is way more than fifteen” Her voice was strained and he even picked up a slight of panic as he pushed past her and stared into the cell. Looking back at him was almost thirty terrified Grisha teenagers. 

“I thought only fifteen were taken?” Y/N asked, her eye burning holes in the side of Nikolai’s head. 

“They found us trying to cross the border” Squeaked a small voice from in front of the two. Out from the darkness crept a petite, mousy girl with ragged blonde hair matted with dirt and blood”

“You’re Fjerdan?” Nikolai looked past the girl and toward the rest of the Grisha behind her. A range of teenagers were spattered around the room some cowering at the light that seeped in from the now open door, some glaring ahead at Nikolai with their arms raised ready to fight regardless of their bindings. 

“Yes a group of us were trying to escape after they found out about our powers but they caught us anyway” A taller boy spoke as he moved toward The King, his hair like the girls was a clear definition of his Fjerdan homeland but the open wounds littering his hands and face suggested Fjerdan’s were hard on even their own kind. 

“Saints above sneaking thirty kids out unseen? Fifteen was fine. Fifteen was doable. But thirty? This is going to be good” Y/N laughed from beside him pressing her fingers to both sides of her head. 

“The water ways” The idea popped into Nikolai’s head in a flash. 

“What?” Y/N had begun helping pick the locks of the teenagers shackles and instructed them to gently lay them of the floor as to make no noise. 

“The water ways I saw them on the way in just before we got to that room” Saints that room where she- “They have a water way system that runs under the mountain if we split the kids up send half of them down the water way and take the ones who can’t swim to the surface we can make it back to the others if we stick to our original plan” 

Nikolai noted the way Y/N stood considering with her brows furrowed and eyes blinking at the ground as if putting together an invisible map. 

“Which of you can swim?” She spoke back to the Grisha. A few came forward and raised their hands, mostly Ravkan kids but a few older looking Fjerdan held up their arms. 

“Good you can go with him and the rest come with me” In an instant Y/N raised up a hand to beacon them forward as they hugged goodbye to the others before moving to join the pirate. 

“What? What are you doing?” Nikolai grabbed her wrist before she could walk and further and pulled her side into his as he spoke in a low hush. 

“You can take the ones who can swim and I’ll take the rest, cause a bit of a distraction up top and meet back with you guys in the forest” 

“I’m not leaving you Y/N” Her eye met his is a sharp glare as he whispered her name but his fierce looked matched her own. They were different sides of the same coin. “I can’t I can’t lose-”

“Yes-” She pulled her hand free “You are. This is what we came here to do. So stop panicking and take the kids unless you want me to go with the swimmers instead? However I didn’t think your specialty was distraction was it now Nikolai” The way she hissed back his name at the end of her sentence made him shiver. “I’m getting out of here one way or another” If he was going to dare use her name she was going to remind him why people feared it. 

“Fine” Looking back at the group he nodded toward the stairwell taking his half first. Taking one last glance back he locked eyes with Y/N and hesitated only for a moment before turning to lead the group. Through spiral stairwells and along dark hallways, Nikolai’s every bone was on edge. Any moment a Fjerdan could round the corner and the last thing he wanted right now was to attempt to take on five soldiers at once while protecting a bunch of terrified teenagers. Fortunately it took little time to find their way due to the hum of rushing water echoing down the halls and Nikolai urged the kids to stay back while he moved around the corner and into a larger opening in the mountain. The room was carved straight into the stone and reminded him of his ships bunker back below the palace with a flowing river sat in the centre of the room a couple metres below the dock. One soldier stood leaning on a crate by the tall waterfall emitting from the ceiling, Nikolai swiftly taking care of him via pummeling up the head with the hilt of his blade earning a series of oof’s from the kids behind him. Nodding towards the drop the kids surrounded him and all looked down and into the fast flowing water that disappeared toward an even darker tunnel under the wooden slats. It even had Nikolai raising an eyebrow. 

“It’ll be fine it only seems intimidating because this is where the waterfall breaks, once we get into the tunnel it’ll settle down” The Grisha didn’t look convinced and Nikolai wasn’t even sure if he was himself. 

“You” He pointed at a well built boy, around the age of 17 Nikolai guessed. “You go first and lead the group” The kid attempted to appear brave as he nodded in silence. “I’ll follow after everyone gets in to make sure nobody bails then we’ll all swim out. It’ll be cold and dark and terrifying but I can assure you waiting for you on the other side is freedom and a hot cup of cocoa okay?” Kids like cocoa right? They didn’t seem any better off at his words but the first jumping in edged the others to follow. One by one they jumped in with the guidance of Nikolai who followed in just after, gasping for air as the icy water stabbed at his skin and soaked through his clothes. 

“Good?” The others wordlessly nodded as they trod water in attempt to not let the current push them along. 

“Okay let’s go” Nodding at the boy who lead the group, he swam behind them as they let the water carry them along, holding onto one girls arm as she struggled in one area. 

In all honesty Nikolai had no idea where the water way would end up but as the group waded through the water and tried to suppress their surprise at the sudden drops down the tunnel, Nikolai prayed to the Saints above it wouldn’t be somewhere completely terrible. 

And he was right, it didn’t look terrible, just a larger opening of a river on the forest edge. Except just his luck, the river was a 20ft drop below. His eyes widen as rocks hit at his legs indicating the end of one section and he held his breath as his body was washed over, sending him down and into the white rush of the break. 

Beneath the water he opened his eyes as scanned the area, the legs of the swimming teens coming into sight while he reached the surface. Unable to comprehend what just happened, he let his body swim over to the river bank and heave his wet self upon the grass edge as the cold began to climb up his spine and freeze his fingers.

“Everyone okay?” He pulled others in his direction, a chorus of groans and yes’s falling from the battered Grisha as they met him on the shore some laughing as they realised they had just escaped. 

Rounding them up, he pointed them in the direction to the opposite side of the forest where Tolya and the rest awaited and hurried ahead to guide them. It didn’t take long for them to all start to go silent with the cold and Nikolai himself even began to worry as the wet of his shirt became stiff with the freezing air. 

But while Nikolai was concerned about the lack of dry clothes the kids wore or whether or not they’d all get colds, he thought rather of the danger he knew Y/N had just thrown herself in. 

He should never of let her go by herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of updates I've been super bust the last two days but will continue my daily uploading for today. Comment and press kudos if you're enjoying it so far.


	16. Chapter 16

The Ghost 

While Nikolai had taken most of the kids, she still had around twelve to sneak back through the mountains and most were terrified eleven year olds. She had done this before she told herself. She’s created big distractions before, hell she managed to out smart The King of Ravka twice now how hard could this be? But as she saw the red hair of Nikolai’s disguise disappear with the rest of his half, doubt began to settle in. 

“Just twelve kids” She assured herself. “you can do this just imagine they’re the rest of your crew not a bunch of mini ticking time bombs” Ushering the rest of them behind her she told them to stay silent as they climbed the stairs up. Her heart didn’t stop pounding against her chest as she moved through the tunnels, light footsteps close behind her. She didn’t even particularly like children but as she turned back to check on them heart heart twitched at the sight of two of the smallest holding hands, terrified looks on their dirt covered faces as they crept forward.

Rounding a corner she held her breath as the main door came into sight. Halting before the corridor she turned back to the kids who were practically stuck to the shadows of the wall. 

“Any of you Inferni?” Thankfully a taller, older looking girl raised her half shaking hand. 

“Me” Nodding her over, the girl stood before Y/N attempting not to cower as she looked up past her lashes, Y/N tried not to let on how scared she was either. 

“When we get out there I need to to extinguish every light you see okay?” The girl nodded in response but watching her chest begin to rise quicker Y/N awkwardly put her hands on her shoulder grounding her. 

“Hey you’ll be okay. You’re here for a reason. These bastards obviously see how much of a powerful Grisha you are and locked you down there because they were scared” The girl weakly smiled back “ Now lets go out there and show them why they should really be afraid” Following the Grisha's more confidant agreement, Y/N looked back into the shadows. 

“We’re going to cause a distraction. Count to thirty and as soon as you do get out here and run to the forest on your right. Don’t stop until you meet four Ravkan Grisha. They’ll help you from there. Now stay together and don’t leave anyone behind” The group murmured back a small chorus of yes’s and began to prepare themselves. 

“You and I are going to walk right into the camp but you need to act brave okay? And on my mark you kill the lights and run to the forest as fast as you can. Don’t wait for me or slow down no matter what you hear got it? Good” 

Clicking her neck Y/N stood at the door and let out an unsteady breath before staring back at the kids reminding them to begin counting as soon as she left. Pushing hard against the wooden double doors, her and the Grisha began walking into the centre of the camp. For the first couple of seconds it was quiet, only the sound of laughter and talking from the Fjerdans ahead broke the silence of the night. But as a few began to spot the unshackled girl walking beside an older woman they started towards them, swords drawn. 

The leader from before stood just metres ahead smirking back at Y/N, unsheathing his blade as he spoke. 

“I knew you weren’t Fjerdan you little whore” His face appeared even more grossly menacing in the low light from the roaring fire beside them. 

“But I do recognise you” He pointed a fat finger in her direction, the rest of his camp closing in around the two like wolves. “What’s your name girl?”

Meeting his eyes, Y/N let her sly smile take over her face as she too unsheathed her blade, a long silver beam against the dark night from under her cloak. 

Y/N made a soft awe at him, pouting in pity at the fake confidence the leader exuded. 

“I’m but a Ghost” On her cue the Grisha bathed the entire camp in darkness and Y/N heard her breaths as she sprint away. Before the man could react, Y/N lunged across the wet floor and slid toward him, bringing up one knee as she sent her blade in a great slash behind his thigh, the artery splitting. He’d bleed out in minutes. 

Confused shouts ran across the camp as those who dared wade through the darkness, blindly waving their swords for her. Feeling the hiss of metal by her ear Y/N let her body take over as she turned and smashed her arm against the hilt of the Fjerdan’s sword. He didn’t even have enough time to scream as she drove a smaller knife out from her sleeve and into his throat. Many followed after him but as the battle continued and the screams of others lay a trail behind her, she realised she was leading the remaining men straight for her. Her sword jabbed into the man she felt to her left but before his body could drop to the ground she felt a sharp burning in the side of her stomach. Feeling anothers breath against her face she pictured a soldier no taller than her smiling back as his knife stabbed into her middle. Crying out, she moved her sword from the left and delivered a single strike killing her assailant immediately. But in the darkness, she could only begin to panic as she felt her hand become soaked in blood as she pressed it against her wound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so short. I am leaving for a holiday in like two hours so just wanted to get this down before I leave. Because i'm going on vacation I won't have my laptop, but will try to update daily using my phone. As I will be using my phone, the chapters may have a few more mistakes etc please be patient with me. Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Have a lovely start or rest of you day, drink plenty water and stay safe. xoxox


	17. Chapter 17

The Ghost 

Hearing no others close, she made a break for it and ran back into the forest, the glow of the moonlight behind the trees leading her way as she hopped over fallen branches and under winding vines, one hand on her stomach as she ran faster than she’d even ran before. 

She could feel her heart in her stomach as her hand became more damp with blood, the voices in her head screaming at her to carry on even as her vision became a blur. Feeling a heavy weight slam into her, her body dropped to the ground in a heap. 

“Y/N” She recognised the voice but as her eyes became heavier she couldn’t will herself to look up at the figure. 

“Hey hey you’re okay you’re going to be okay” She heard a low curse as she felt pressure on her wound, her hands on her stomach being covered by another’s.

“Hey look at Y/N look at me. Keep your eyes open. Look it’s-”

“Nikolai?” She struggled as a metallic taste seeped into her mouth. 

“Yes yes hey look at me you can’t go to seep okay” His voice broke, he was desperate as she felt him cup her face, her own blood smearing across her cheek. 

“Y/N don’t fall asleep I need my pirate hey” His voice became distant as she began to drift. Her body felt heavy, her eyelids screamed to just close already as she felt tears drip onto her cheek yet she wasn’t sure if they were her’s or Nikolai’s. 

“No no no Y/N stay with me” Nikolai was shaking her body, his hands moving over her face wiping her hair back before pressing back on the exposed skin on her stomach. 

In those moments she finally let sleep succumb to her as she felt her weight lift off the ground, her body wrapped in the King’s arms as she faded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo what's going to happen to her??????? ;)))))))) Don't worry we're only about half way through our story I have a lot more in store for Nikolai and Y/N.


	18. Chapter 18

Nikolai hadn't stopped shaking since the last of the Grisha children had emerged from within the darkness, no sign of Y/N behind him. Only when his tears had stopped and he had finally managed to get her body to Genya after carrying her over several miles did he finally look upon the blood pooling beneath her, his shirt stained red did he realise what had happened.

"Will she be-?"Nikolai was pacing behind Genya as she worked on the wound.  
" I don't know Nikolai back off okay" Only few times had he ever heard her snap so sharply back but considering this was the third time he'd asked, he supposed it was understandable.

After leaving his half of the children with his Grisha, he asked if his ship had arrived yet. Knowing that what ever distraction Y/N would cause would most definitely disrupt their covertness, he had sent ahead for the Kingfisher the night before and hoped it would arrive in time before she dragged most of the Fjerdan men out of the forest with her.

Luckly for whomever, his ship had arrived just after he regrouped with everyone, a dying Y/N in his arms and immediately instructed Zoya to head for international waters while he ignored David's sympathetic glances he threw Nikolai's way.

"Stop looking at me like that" The ship had finally settled in the waves as Tolya rounded up the children below decks while Genya and Tamar worked on the pirate who lay in a heap on the ground. He didn't need to look left to know David was standing beside him, hands in pockets while they watched over the women.

"She'll be okay" David lay a hand on his King's shoulder.

"I know I wasn't-"

"It's okay you don't have to admit anything to me right now" Nikolai turned to twack him in annoyance but the man was already responding to Genya asking for clean cloths. 

Moments later, standing up fully, Genya stared down at the woman as Nikolai joined her. 

On the damp wood of his ship Y/N lay as if she was simply in a deep sleep, her legs stretched out front and one arm hanging across her chest the other flayed out by her side. It was almost peaceful. Of course that was ignoring the white bandaged tied taught around her waist, the centre a circle of red as fresh blood escaped the closing hole Genya had reworked. Her nuckles were stripped red and her cheek was smeared with blood from where she'd pushed back her hair, few strands matting to her forehead. Looking upon her Nikolais mind was battling thoughts as to which reason he could convince himself seemed plausible enough for him to act in such a rash way toward a pirate, toward a murderer. For Saints sake he cried. Perhaps it was the adrenaline. He even thought to convince himself that the reason he acted so quickly, allowed such emotions to flood him was because he had a soft soul. Yes that would be why. He saw a woman dying and couldn't help but feel sorrow and worry. But a worry of losing what he wouldn't answer. Not even to that little voice in the back of his head that screamed a list of reasons why he'd care for such a person. 

"She should heal quickly. She just needs to rest now" Genya poked at him. 

Mumbling a yes he bent to pick her up, hooking his arms under her shoulders and knees, her body falling limp with sleep. 

"I'll erm she can sleep in my bed it'll be more comfortable for her" Nikolai tried to ignore the smirk that Genya subtly tried to prevent as she clasped her hands together and made to clean the mess on the deck 

"Yes of course" 

Making his way into his room with a kick to the door, he gently lay the pirate on his bed staring just once at her unmoving face before he realised to remover her boots and weapons belt. Her boots came off easily but as Ravka's playboy blond moved to unclip her weapons belt he began to stumble. The flip of his stomach jolted him as his hand touched the strip of her exposed waist as he remembered just hours ago she lay upon him her bare chest pressing against his while her hands pressed him into a bed and lips kissed at his throat rather than passed out from loss of blood. 

Fortunately for him he didn't have to try hard as the buckle slid off with one push allowing him to slip the leather off her and rest the sword and belt on the floor beside them silently. 

Finally releasing a huff of air the king stepped back with his hands on his hips. All at once the trials of the day seemed to topple on him as he began to feel the ache of his shoulders from swimming so furiously, the burn of a hand print where one particularly terrified albeit gift Inferni Grisha girl had held on while he helped her up the river bank and stared down at the stain of blood covering his hands. Her blood. 

Dragging a chair across his quarters to the edge of his bed, he set up for the remainder of the night despite the sun beginning to peak over the horizon and slumped into the seat, crossing his arms to achieve a somewhat bearable level of comfort. Swearing to not take his eyes off her, afraid her condition might deteriorate, he stared at her now draped in a single cover he was careful to lay across her. But as the minutes ticked as the day rested over him nothing could stop him as his eyes willed shut and he too fell into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for 250 reads AHHH!!!! 
> 
> Okay I wrote this at 1am on my phone in bed so I sincerely apologise for any mistakes or for how short it is.
> 
> Nikolai is beginning to realise just how much he cares for this little pirate but does Y/N feel the same???? 
> 
> We might also be seeing some more familiar faces in the next chapter ;)))) which I promise will be much longer


	19. Chapter 19

Y/N felt as if she'd been bashed in the head with a rock and from bolting upright in a sudden panic she felt as if that same rock had also been jabbed into her stomach, her body freezing with a sharp spike of pain cutting through her. 

Hissing, she lightly pressed her hand against the bandage surrounding her waist and lifted the white cloth to stare down at the large healing strip below her navel, the skin gathering a what would soon be a stark white line.

The pain began to subside as she raised her head to gather her barings but was quickly distracted by the bed she lay in and the clothes she wore. The sheets smelt familiar but of whom she was unsure of and the white shirt that hung one size too big on her shoulders hinted at her to look up and inspect the room. However, she immediately knew where she was as she was met with the sight of a sleeping Nikolai crumpled up in the chair at the end of the bed, his arms crossed and his head dropped, the red of the sunrise setting his head alight in a glow of blond. While in attempt to surpress her laugh at the irony of a King giving up his bed for a pirate to sleep in, she allowed herself to indulge in Nikolais true face- the way his nose curved up just slightly at the end, the way his cheeks were slightly freckled with the sun but less than while he was Sturmhond, the curl of his hair from salt water and the way his face seemed almost five years younger while he slept. He truly was ever bit as handsome as she'd come to expect. But alas she did wonder why the king was sat before her and not the privateer. Perhaps they were heading somewhere he didn't need a disguise? It must feel nice, she'd never know the feeling.

She coughed once and the king shot up immediately.

"I'm awake I'm awake" Nikolai looked just as rough as she did. "You're up?" He rose in an instant and pressed the back of his hand flat against her forehead, the other hand behind her neck bringing her forward. "Thank the saints no fever"

Y/N stared in shock and half amusement, in the span of three seconds Nikolai had managed to both piss her off and make her stomach flip. Batting his hand away, she pulled herself to the side of the bed and ignored Nikolais face as she stood fully, wincing in the process.

"What happened?" Her voice startled her, it was rougher more worn.

"You got stabbed"

"No shit Nikolai I mean why am I in your bed? I thought it'd take atleast three more attempts on your life to move us from a table to your bed"

Nikolai clearly ignoring her, scooped up both their holsters from the floor and tapped the hilt of Y/N's sword on her chest, his face set in a complete lack of amusment.

"Not funny"

"A little funny"

Attaching the belt around her waist the slowly found her footing as they made their way to the door that hid around the corner.

"I sent for the Kingfisher to fly over just after we arrived at that Inn, expecting your distraction technique to be somewhat overt. And lucky for you it arrived in time and got us out into open waters while Genya stitched your bleeding self up on the top deck"

"And our course now?"

"I know a place we can send the Fjerdan Grisha until they decide what's best for themselves. We shouldn't be far now actually" He spoke ahead while she followed a pace after, basking in the cool air that flowed through her as they emerged on the deck.

"And why you felt to sleep at by my bedside?" She felt like teasing today. He turned quickly and spoke in a low voice, his face inches for her, the quick movement scaring her for a moment.

"My bed" He pointed. "And I didn't feel like letting you die, it'd be an awful pain in my ass to have your crew come after me if you died in my bed" 

"Captain" They both turned but Nikolai huffed as Yuta ran toward them both, stopping short before giving up all apparent restraint and throwing her arms around Y/N. 

"I'm so glad you're okay"

"Thanks Yuta" 

"Oh but you should know the rest of the crew know your name now" She spoke lowly. 

"What?!" 

"His highness couldn't stop blabbering your name when he Brough you aboard. 'Someone help Y/N. I need Y/N alive'" 

Turning to her left she didn't let the blush on Nikolais cheeks go unnoticed. 

"Thank you Yuta" He muttered while inspecting the invisible dirt on his hands. 

"Nice one dumbass" 

"Only the twins, Genya, David and Zoya heard atleast" He tried to sound convincing but the glare she sent his way shut him up. 

"We should be arriving soon anyway" Yuta pointed out as they made their way up the quarter deck, Nikolai taking position by the wheel. 

Allowing the waves to sooth her body, she settled against the banister as they made port and began their journey to the Orphanage Geny told her about, half the thirty kids following close behind as night began to fall upon entry to the mansion great steel gates several hours later. 

Taking a step back with her first mate in tow, she quietly observed the dynamics of the group soften. Nikolai bound ahead of the group and met a white haired woman at the doorway, a taller man appearing behind her and meeting Genya and David with hugs followed with a polite nod toward Zoya who stood uncomfortably among the hord of children. 

Introductions quickly followed but names slipped through the cracks nor the white haired woman Y/N repeating their names, a mutual understanding forming between the two. 

Separation ensued and Nikolai left with Genya and the children to meet with the white haired woman while the man who shook her hand as Mal showed them to a cosy dinning room informing them to rest while they waited for the return of the others. 

"So what do you do for a living?" Mal asked her way. 

"She's a privately hired privateer" A male voice answered as Y/N watched Nikolai stroll in from behind a small wooden door.

"The same type of privateer as you?" The white haired woman asked from behind him, nodding respectively at Y/N as they all took their seats ready to begin the meal each of them had helped lay out. 

"Oh I'm far worse" Y/N winked, the other surprisingly smiled back. 

"I figured as much. If only I'd known we would be greeting a ghost I would have made Mal wear his fighting leathers. I've always wanted to see him get layed out by someone who plays dirty" 

"She plays dirty alright" Nikolai muttered,Y/N choking on her water. 

"She's tried to kill him twice" Zoya pointed out, picking at her half chicken. 

"If she wanted to kill him she would have succeed by now" Yuta interjected from beside her, Y/N glaring at the two women who seemed adamant on ruining her first impression. 

"You've heard of me?" 

"Who hasn't? I noticed your wrist branding the moment I saw you. You're quite formidable how did you end up working for Nik?" 

"Nik?" "Nik?" Both Y/N and Mal coughed. The same smile gracing Nikolai and the woman's face. Gaining her composure Y/N responded. 

"I got sloppy in a mission and ended up indebted to his royal highness" 

"She held a knife to my chest and then tried to walk free" The king pointed out. 

The conversation followed in a variety of directions after from Nikolai's day to day as a King, David's latest inventions, Zoyas leading of an army and Y/N life on the sea.

Then all of a sudden their plates were empty and they had made their way by the fire to continue further, Mal and Y/N furiously arguing about the best way to use whichever weapon . And for the first time in what felt like a while Y/N sat back and allowed herself to enjoy the warmth of the fire, the chatter with people who she now considered r friends? and glanced up past the group to the blond king and white woman who stood whispering at the window, the woman looking far more amused as Nikolai stood arms crossed to meet his eyes with Y/N's while responding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter in Nikolais pov will be a bit more fluffy as he gets interrogated by a familiar face heyyy Alina
> 
> Leav a Kudos or comment they truly make my day knowing somebody appreciates my work xox


	20. Chapter 20

Nikolai

Even under the cover of the dark shadows Nikolai and Alina stood under by the far window, he could feel that grin that she so often had made to him when she pretended not to pry. 

“She’s pretty” Her voice was balancing on a thin line, the teasing undertone slipping in as she nudged him with her shoulder. Nikolai, fearing he’d give too much information to Alina who had a habit of over sharing, remained with his arms crossed, his eyes focused on the rest of his friends surrounding the fire place laughing and sharing stories. He even went as far as to tilt his chin up as to suggest his clear ignorance to her statement.

“Mmmhumm”

“What does that mean?”

“Just mmhumm” 

“No why’d you mmhumm me? Do you like her or something?” She needn’t ask a question she already knew the answer to. “Saints above you do”

Turning to her quickly, Nikolai responded in a hushed voice “You’ve can’t say Saints above Alina when we’re both technically Saints”. But she only smiled harder and smacked Nikolai’s arm in excitement.

“Oh you doooo” 

“Stop it” He snapped. She didn’t care. 

“Wow Nikolai Lanstov in love with The Ghost” It was almost as she was reminiscing in the way she looked up and smiled into the distance. 

“Would you keep your voice down?” 

Alina immediately looked back at him wide eyed “So you do love her?”

“What-I-I never said love”

“So like?”

Nikolai resorted back to silence. 

“Nikolai” She drew out the ending of his name poking at him. 

“Fine fine yes I think she’d pretty-” Alina cooed in response “But I never said like or love. I’m pretty sure she bewitched me with her swordsmanship or something” 

Staring back at the group Nikolai indulged himself in looking at Y/N. The way the heat from the fire lit her face with a soft amber glow, the way she laughed too much at Zoya picking on Mal but quieted down when she realised how loud she’d been, the way her hair moved while she bumped shoulders with Yuta as they sat side by side on the carpet. 

And just like that it hit him like a tone of bricks,

he lo-

he liked her. 

Nikolai Lanstov was completely and entirely smitten with The Ghost. 

And he was utterly fucked. 

As the fire light dimmed and the group began to quiet, Genya suggested they all part for bed in preparation for their departure back to the Capital in the morning, a chorus of agreement following. Alina informed them they could each pick a room in the house to which they all cleared out in seconds, Genya and David exiting together with Tolya, Zoya, Yuta and Tamar leaving shortly after bidding good night to everyone, leaving Nikolai and the sun summoner by the window and a slow moving Y/N by the dying fire.

“How’s the nightmares?” 

This immediately brought Nikolai out of his staring contest with the wall. 

“I-erm haven’t had one in over two weeks now” He recalled back to last time he woke up with talons for hands and black spider webbed veins. It was the night before the Sanct Nikolai festival, the night before Y/N attacked him at the palace and he even recalled those same chains that locked him up being left to fix by David on his desk being the exact same Y/N would go on to use to trap him in his office and attempt to escape. 

“Perhaps Y/N could help tie you up if you have one again” He wasn’t expecting that response as Alina laughed once more. 

“Oh fuck off-”

“Did you say any room?” Interrupted Y/N just as the two began to squabble, Alina pushing away Nikolai who attempted to grab her and stood up straight to face the pirate. 

“Yes in fact there’s one free just two doors down on your right up past the main stairs” Nodding, Y/N didn’t look at Nikolai as she wished Alina Good Evening as left out the small oak door and into the dark corridor. 

“Don’t say anything” Nikolai began to walk away but not before Aline through one last 

“Ugh you guys wold look so cute together and you know it” She yelled the last part as Nikolai, too, moved out and into the hallway to his room just one door down on his right up past the main stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about the delay in posts I've had such a hectic week with moving back to the city for univeristy, attemepting to settle in etc. I thought I'd just quickly post this while I wasn't too tired as literally every night I've gone to write more chapters has resulted in me falling asleep before I can even open up my laptop. 
> 
> My schedule for the next week isn't too busy and I think I'll spend all tomorrow watching pirates of the Caribbean or something to get me in the mood as I try to catch up on a weeks worth of daily uploads. 
> 
> Once again sorry for the wait I know how annoying it can be but I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I have a lot more angst and drama coming shortly with perhaps a wee bit or *cough* alot *cough* of smut ;)))))))
> 
> Stay hydrated, wear your masks and stay safe I love you all xoxox


	21. Chapter 21

Nikolai 

It was pitch black outside. The white glow from the moonlight high above the trees shone dimly into his room, setting a slither of the white bed sheet wrapped around his bare torso bright in his empty room at Alina and Mal’s orphanage. Yet another night spent restless he thought. But at least tonight it was from his own thoughts running rampant and not from the adrenaline of someone dying in his arms. A short knock against his door shook his mind of the images of blood spilling through his hands. Raising his head, he peered through the shadows to make out a figure creeping in through the door way and toward the light. 

“Y/N?” He sat up quickly, pulling the sheet to his neck in a panic. “What are you-”

“Budge up” Before Nikolai could react, Y/N had moved across the room and was pulling at the sheets, tucking her legs under as she slid next to him, stretching the covers over her shoulders as she lay on her side and shut her eyes. 

Nikolai stared with his mouth open as the cold enveloped his torso forcing him to move under the blankets himself, shuffling as far to the opposite side to the bed as possible.

“I couldn’t sleep” She spoke as if he asked. 

Nikolai only hummed in response before warning her to stay on her side. Her side? He cursed the butterfly in his stomach. 

They were silent for a moment more before Y/N broke it. 

“Nikolai”

He only hummed again and rolled to face her, his eyes still closed as he tried to lull himself back to sleep. 

“Are you naked?” 

His eye snapped open.

“What? No! I have pants on” Y/N was quietly laughing as she turned away from him, pulling all the sheets with her leaving Nikolai half exposed to the cold air. 

“Stop-” Nikolai grabbed a bunch on sheets in a fist and pulled them his way “hogging the blankets” 

Y/N gasped as the ice air now bit at her, her body rolling over once more to pull back the blanket. 

“Where’s your manners? You’re supposed to be a King” 

“You’re in my bed” He shot back, them both now facing each other. In the dim light Nikolai could only make out the silhouette of her figure and he hoped it was the same for her as he blushed realising he was in fact practically naked with beside her while she lay in soft trousers and a long sleeved top. 

“Some gentleman” She tutted but her words fell short as Nikolai plucked the courage to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her toward him, the other arm laying the blanket over them both equally. 

“There. Now we both have the blanket”

“Are you sure you’re not naked?” She asked hesitantly, all humor gone from her voice. In the quick movement from him grabbing her, her hand had fallen on his side as they lay close to each other, the rough tips of her pirate fingers touching barely the curve of his torso, his skin hot under her touch. Nikolai gulped in panic as he too realised his arm still remained tightly around her waist, her breath heavy against his neck and she looked anywhere but his face, yet her thumb rubbed lightly against his hip. 

The silence was almost deafening. Moving his hand from her waist, he dared to bring it to her face, his fingers under her chin as he brought up her face to meet his despite the darkness that sat upon them. It sounded as if she went to say the start of his name but fell short as his lips met hers in a tentative pressure before she pressed harder, his hand now cupping her face as she moved impossibly closer. In a mixture of hot breaths and hands, Nikolai rolled on top of her using his arm and knee to rest over her, his hand now in her hair as her own ran across his shoulders, marking down his flexed arms to his waist then abs. She let out a moan Nikolai would cherish forever as he removed his lips from hers and began to work on her neck, his hand wrapping in her hair and lighting pulling back to expose her throat. She muttered his name as he smirked against her skin, leaving purple marks down the base of her neck before moving to rest his lips beside her ear. 

“I want to hear you moan my little pirate” He bit at her lobe and laughed shortly as her body seemed to melt under him. Before he could relish in the way her body reacted she kicked out his knee and flipped them both so she sat on his waist, her hands flat against his chest. It was his turn to moan as her lips connected with his torso, her kisses moving from his collar, across his body and down his abs, her eyes meeting his as he clenched his jaw and tried to suppress the noise that crept up his throat as she ran her tongue down his body. Nikolai wasn’t sure whether to grab the sheets or her as she moved lower just before she reached his waist-

Waking up in a cold sweat, his body shot upright. He was alone. A dream. He almost laughed as he ran his hand through his hair and let out a series of lapped breaths, his heart racing. Swinging out from the bed, he sat on the edge and braced his arms against his knees letting the cold air snap him back to reality. Even his dreams were screaming at him to acknowledge the feelings he wasn’t brave enough to admit. Deciding he needed some water he left the safety of his bed and ventured out the door, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders like he did when he was child on his way to his mothers bed after a nightmare. 

Stepping into the corridor his heart stopped as he bumped into a figure. 

“Saints above Nikolai don’t scare me like that” It was Y/N in front of him, holding a glass as she was making her way back to her own room. 

Nikolai stood as still as the bust of an old Duke beside them. 

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” She laughed at her own pun on her name as Nikolai snapped out of his trance and rolled his eyes in attempt to fall back into his boyish persona. 

“Oh come on that was good. I’ve always wanted to say that” She stood rolling back and forth on her heels. 

“What are you doing up?” He asked in a whisper, afraid to wake anyone whose room was too close. 

“Needed some water” She raised the half empty glass in her hand before asking “Couldn’t sleep?”

Nikolai tensed “Yeah something like that” 

She pressed the glass into his hand suddenly, his heart lurching as her fingers brushed his. Nikolai dragged his courage up from the depths of the unsea to thank her, his voice unbalanced. 

Finishing the water in an awkward silence, Nikolai gulped for air and frowned at Y/N as she lowered her eyes to his torso. But it wasn’t in awe at his stomach like he was used to. Not that he let many woman into his bed to do such a thing- besides the point, Y/N was inspecting the scars that littered his skin, some battle wounds from the nick of a pirates swords, the Darkling’s Volcra and some from himself when he let that beast within him paralyze his body and scratch at his sanity in the night. 

Wrapping the blanket tighter around his body, he coughed as he felt the weight of her stare upon him. 

“Sorry I” The words seemed to get lost as she said them “I have loads too” She pulled the corner of her shirt to the side to expose a long white scar running along her collar. “Got this one from a sleazy captain of a ship that stole woman and sold them off to brothels” She pushed back her sleeve of her right arm to reveal a thick mark of taught skin travelling up her arm past her elbow stopping just short of her upper fore arm “Got this one from being thrown onto a burning deck by some pirate I thought was a lot weaker than he looked” 

Nikolai frowned before she smiled brightly “Don’t worry I gave them worse” His brows rose in question “They don’t call me The Ghost for nothing Nikolai, if I didn’t kill them then and there then I came back after dark and separated their vocal cords from their throats or their unmentionables from between their legs” She winked at him in a way that sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine. 

“Well I erm better be heading back to bed” She finally broke the strange silence between them as she moved around him. 

“Good night Nikolai” And as quickly as she appeared she faded into the darkness behind the closing door to her room, leaving Nikolai alone in the hall. 

“Pull yourself together you dumb ass” He cursed himself as he too turned into his room and lay down in the moon light once more. But now as he lay in the sheets, his eyes glaring into the dark wood above him he finally allowed his feelings to seep in. He was falling in love with the one person he couldn’t have. But as he sat there in the dark, his mind running a thousand miles an hour trying to wrap his head around his heart, he was completely unaware of the fact that just through the wall over, laying in her own bed, staring at her own ceiling, Y/N was thinking the exact same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a wee teaser of the smut that's to come ;))))
> 
> Once again i'm so sorry for the delays in posting, the whole daily posting thing has sort of gone out of the window in the past two weeks. I'm all settled into my new house finally and officially start University on Tuesday but only have one class so I should have the rest of the week free. As well as moving in and doing all my summer work for my second year I've been binge reading A Darker Shade of Magic and love it so might have to sacrifice a day this week of writing to get started on the last book but don't worry there is lots more in store for these two. I mean when i said slow burn i mean slowwwww burn. 
> 
> Hope everyone is staying safe I'm a little worried because covid cases in the UK have shot back up again and are almost as bad as it was a couple months back so even though I start uni on tuesday (which i'm scared of because i'm probably going to get covid) everyone thinks the city will go into lockdown again as numbers are really bad here. If that happens I guess I'll have to go back home again to stay with my family but that also means more free time to write which is good and I'll get to see my puppy and cats again 
> 
> Sorry for the rant im just stressed lol 
> 
> Stay safe, wear your masks and enjoy reading this chapter
> 
> xoxo


	22. Chapter 22

The Ghost 

They left reasonably early the next day (or same day for Y/N after thoughts of a certain someone wouldn’t stop running through her mind a mere four hours ago). After a polite good bye to Alina and Mal for their hospitality, Y/N and Yuta stood awkwardly at the end of the drive observing the others offering more solemn farewell. Nikolai even initiated a hug with Alina which, as much as she refused to admit it, made something horrible churn in her stomach. 

“If I didn’t know better I’d say that look was of jealousy Captain” Yuta bumped her shoulder against Y/N, wiggling her eyebrows 

“If you did know better Yuta you’d know to hold your tongue out of fear of me stabbing you in the neck” 

“Good job I don’t then” Yuta was insufferably immune to Y/N empty threats.

Returning to the ship released a weight of stress that had been looming over Y/N shoulders, even if for the first half of the journey consisted of Zoya flying them a hundred feet in the air until they met the sea. The crew had settled after a rocking bound from air to ocean but soon settled after the ship gained on through the waves, resulting in a quiet deck beaming in the unusually warm weather beating down on the deck. Whittling an apple, Y/N rested with both legs cross and raised on a crate but looked up when close movement caught her eye. There before her stood Nikolai, his hands on his hips and his eyes squinting past the bright reflection of the sun as he looked down upon her. 

“How did you do it?”

Y/N only looked up expectantly 

“Escaping. There was at least thirty Fjerdans back there and I heard some of the kids say you did it in complete darkness. How?”

Biting into the slice she carved out of the apple, she pulled her feet off the crate and leaned further back into the chair, observing the King before responding 

“I’m a pirate your Highness I know how to kill in the dark. Most attacks happen after sun fall” 

She didn’t let Nikolai’s flinch at her formality of his title go unnoticed. 

“Not one pirate against thirty ?”

“I think you’re forgetting who you’re talking to”

There was a pregnant pause in which Y/N thought Nikolai had left, having not bothered to open her eyes 

“Teach me”

“What?”

“Teach me how to fight in the dark”

She took a moment to weigh out the options before lobbing the apple core off the ship and standing to Nikolai’s full height. Before he could respond she had unhooked the scrap of fabric from his waist and tied it around his eyes, not allowing herself to indulge in the moments in which her fingers pushed past his blonde curls that had begun to curl from the salty air or the velvet of his coat as she hooked her hand around his waist to reel in the fabric he had hooked to several belt loops . 

Nikolai let out a soft yep, his hand raising to her wrists as she tightened the material around his eyes before he calmed. 

“This is how I learnt” He winced as she pulled the fabric tight around him. “Before you can learn to fight with a sword you must learn how to dodge an opponent. There’s no point in blinding stabbing if you can’t feel where your partner is or where their blade will meet you” She shoved him hard into the center of the deck, a few crew men holting their tasks to observe the now blindfolded Captain. 

“How will I know where you are?” He turned quickly in a circle trying to get a feel for his positioning on the deck. Brushing past him she lowered her voice 

“You need to tune in your senses. What you lose from sight, channel into hearing” He nodded in response, his head now tracking her foot steps more accurately as she observed him, catching a dull sabre Yuta threw her way. With his back turned, she smacked the end of the metal lightly behind his thigh, earning a quiet chorus of laughter from the rest of the ship that now watched with curious eyes, even Zoya smiled. 

“Listen to the sound of my boots, the click of my heels” The King nodded once, now tacking her near perfectly as she moved before him. 

“Listen to where I am. How close do you think I am?” In an instant Nikolai stepped forward in a single long stride, ending up just inches from her. “Good” Nikolai smirked in response. 

“Now pin my sound. Don’t leave it. Where you wouldn’t take your eyes off your opponent, don’t lose the sound of me” She dared to step forward from behind him, her mouth inches from his ear

“Don’t get distracted” She whispered. Nikolai turned quickly and attempted to hook his foot around hers in an effort to bring her to the floor, but as his boot curled around hers, she put her arms under his to twist his body and slam him into the deck on his stomach, the crew hissing at the sight. 

“And don’t get cocky” 

He got up immediately and faced in her general direction before Y’N held his wrist with one hand and used the other to put a blunt sword in his hand. He gulped as her fingers brushed up against his for a moment before she pulled them back quickly, but with an attempted level of calm as to not draw attention from the rest of the ship that now watched the their King and a pirate begin the fight. 

Nikolai twisted the blade to get a feel for which weapon he was holding as he stood with his feet planted further apart and knees bent, Y/N mirroring him as she did the same. In a tease, she slid her blade along the length of his slowly before leaning further away from him. He attacked first in a sudden blast of power, jumping forward and slashing down in a great swoop but Y/N used his force to bat his sword down and into the wooden deck, his body tripping over itself from momentum causing the crew watching to laugh. He remained his balance quickly and let Y/N strike first this time. 

“Good. When you’re dealt with such a disadvantage to the fight as a loss of sight you shouldn’t be the first to strike” she stabbed forward, her blade curling around his as they twisted around each other in a blaze of metal “wait for them to expose their location” He spun suddenly and reached for her arm as he moved behind her to bring his sword to her throat as he bent back her dominant hand behind her back 

“I think i’m getting the hang of this” She could practically hear the lace of smug in his voice. Not allowing him to indulge any longer, she sacrificed her blade to the ground and used her now free hand to pull at his arm that latched onto her, forcing her hips back and her body forward as she flipped him over, his body landing in a heavy heap in front of her. 

As he lay before her, groaning while he wrapped his arms around his winded stomach, Y/N nelt down to remove the fabric still around his eyes. He winced as the light kissed his vision but scowled harder when he saw the smile on Y/N’s face. 

“Out of all the times to act cocky Nikolai, fighting blind in the dark is not” She stood up fully, heaving him up too “You need to be in and out quickly. Only fight if it’s absolutely necessary”

He only hummed in agreement before rounding off a few jokes and returning to his Captains post with his tail between his legs, Toyla meeting him on the quarter deck with a jolly smile an a teasing wink. 

They sailed further for a couple more hours before the ship was once again hoisted into the sky until it found its footing firmly in the Capital. The sun had set only a moments ago, but the city had already fallen into a grey gloom as night moved in, a white fog rolling through the cities winding streets. After helping the others unload and walking back to one side of the palace, Y/N came to a firm stop as she looked upon the smaller gate leading into the building. 

“Penny for your thoughts”

“Everyone knows you and your country have no money to give” Nikolai appeared hurt as she turned to glare at him but under his fake frown lay that warm smile she had began to loath. 

“What now?”

He gave her a questioning look to continue

“I helped you get those kids. You pardon me of my crimes?” 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and he lead them through the palace corridors and out of the cold. 

“That you did”

He continued to stroll through the dimly lit halls past small servant rooms and up winding stairwells Y/N presumed skipped any main halls or open foyers. 

“So now I’ll leave” He stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around, only moved his head to the side in concern. “I did what you asked now I will be returning back to my ship” 

She didn’t let the way his knuckles grew whiter or the breath of air he swallowed go un-calculated. 

“Well-I-yes I suppose that was our agreement” 

“Yes”

“Yes” 

They just stared at one and other in silence before Y/N spoke up. 

“Well I better be off then your Majesty” 

She hesitated before twisting to leave 

“Wait the-I-” He took a deep breath, laughing once at himself. “Have dinner with me tonight at least. Before you go” Y/N considered his words carefully, even as he looked down at her with his great hazel eyes. 

“Fine. But I’m leaving straight after. I’d be surprised if my crew haven’t set my ship alight with me gone for so long” 

He laughed in response but said no more and he nodded in the direction up the stairs.


	23. Chapter 23

The Ghost 

Nikolai stood across the room. He was a vision of beauty as he lent back against his desk, arms crossed as studied her. Dare she say even she felt tense under his gaze as if she should feel self conscious in the presence of such an intimidating figure, but quickly shook off the feeling as she remembered who she was. 

“Why are you staring like that?” She avoided looking at him as she flipped through a couple maps that sat spread over a small coffee table between them both. 

“Back on my ship you told me how you are able to fight in the dark”

She finally looked up at him, searching for a point to his observation. 

“And?”

“And you taught me how to fight blind”

“Yes?” She moved away from the small table and around to the bookcase that stood tall in his office, the same office they had fought in days ago, the same office they had-

“I want to see what you can do”

She turned slowly to face him, walking closer, his body tensing as she clearly looked him up and down. 

“You don’t want to play that game Nikolai”

“I believe we already have. In this very room no less. But we were both” he looked for the word “distracted. I want to see just how great the Ghost really is”

He stepped closer to her, just one step but it felt as if the room had closed in on her. 

“I want to see what you truly say you’re good at”

“Besides distracting you?” Two could play at this game. 

“Besides distracting me” He agreed. 

Nikolai made to move the furniture back as Y/N unraveled the strip of fabric covering her branded wrist and took her long knife from its sheath on her thigh. The king did the same and faced her with a short blade loose in one hand. 

Forgoing all thoughts that screamed at her in her head, she held out the fabric to Nikolai, raising her brows. He silently understood as he took the black strip and avoided looking at her face as he stood before her and raised the cloth, tying it over her eyes. She couldn’t see him but her heart still raced as she felt him lean in closer to fix the fabric tight around her head, he too even appeared to have slowed his breathing as he fumbled with the knot. 

“Okay?” 

Without responding she used the hilt of her sword to bash the King in the cheek. He immediately howled as he dropped back in a sudden falter of shock. 

“What was that for?”

Rather than letting him know they had started, she lunged for him in a blind attack, hooking her boot around his ankle and bringing him to the floor. She assumed he understood as she couldn’t sense his weight down low and so swiped forward in a great arch, his blade meeting her half way. Unexpectedly, he didn’t force against in but rather allowed her blade to follow downward, sending her off balance as he smashed his shoulder into her stomach in a tackle, both of them landing hard on the floor. She twisted them both in a quick grab of limbs and connected his back with the hard wood as she held his shirt tight with her fist and shoved his torso down, his head barely missing cracking against the floor. 

Using her focus on his arms to his advantage, he pulled his knees to the side, knocking his with hers to send her legs further apart and his body closer to hers. She refrained a gasp and was glad her eyes were covered as she knew she’d flush if she recognised the proximity of their bodies while fighting. 

Not allowing herself to indulge in being onto of the Nikolai Lanstov any longer she leaped off over him and reached for a letter opener she remembered lay a top his desk in front of them. She didn’t have to feel around long as the silver kissed her hand but she did almost drop it as Nikolai slammed into her back, his hand grabbing her arm and forcing it hard on the desk, the knife falling out of her grip. But as he leaned forward, she slid out from under him and shoved him into the side of the wood before moving to kick at his face as he sat on the floor with his back against the bookshelf. 

But his clarity of vision out weighed her as he grabbed her ankle before she could bruise his face once more and dragged her down. She twisted to break free but Nikolai was too fast and crawled over her, grabbing one hand in his as he held her. 

“Tap out?” 

She smirked under him and didn’t need to see his face to know that his smile dropped as the blade she had swiped on her way down now poked into his side. Laughing to herself she blinked back the light as he pushed off the fabric from around her eyes but froze when she finally realised how close they were to each other. 

“I thought you were supposed to be good at this?” She wished she was still blind as the way he stared down at her made her whole body stop. 

“Usually you’d be blind too and usually I would have already killed you” She moved the tip of the knife from his side to tease just under where his shirt had ridden up. 

His expression was unreadable but the way in which his thumb stroked where he held her other wrist made her insides mush. 

“Nikolai I have to tell you something”

A sharp knock sounded against the door causing the two to rise in an instant. Nikolai told the person to enter as he straightened his loose shirt and kicked the fallen knife under his desk while welcoming in a small group of servants who set out a series of dishes on the small table they had shoved in the corner. 

Standing awkwardly to one side, Y/N observed as Nikolai helped move the table closer into the middle much to the dismay of the servants who claimed he needn’t do such a thing. Once the wine had been poured and the last person ran from the room, Nikolai turned to face her as he waved her over to the table, joining her on one side as he instructed them to eat. 

“Where will you go after this?” His voice had turned solemn.

“I’ll take my crew South for the winter”

“And then?”

“And then you’ll never see me again” She tried to sound like it didn’t hurt her as much as she’d care to admit. Nikolai’s face fell flat as he took a long sip of wine, his face glowing in the amber hue of the canles. 

“Lucky me” He didn’t sound too pleased

“You’re not going to miss me now Nikolai are you?” She tried to tease but the air felt almost suffocatingly tense 

“Why did you become a pirate?” Avoiding her question.

“I was sold to a pirate captain as a child, killed him and soon took his crew as my own. From there I took his name and his identity until I could bare my own and even then I was a faceless captain”

“The Ghost?”

“Precisely. Why did Alina ask if you’re sleeping okay these days?” 

“Why do you care?” Why did she care?

“I just thought perhaps it had something to do with the chains you kept tied to your bed” She smirked at his sudden inspection of a carrot on his plate while he avoided her question. 

“It does”

“Elaborate?”

“No. My turn, why do you not like people knowing your real name?”

“Reputation. The Ghost holds more to it than Y/N. Why aren’t you married yet?” 

He hesitated for just a moment before falling back into their rhythm to lean forward and respond while swirling the wine in his goblet. 

“Haven’t found the right person yet. Why aren’t you dating anyone?”

“Who says i’m not?” 

He hesitated for longer now. Y/N even began to feel the pressure of his stare as his hazel eyes bore into her over the candle lit table. 

Another second past before he leaned back into his chair smiling. 

“You’re a liar” 

“It appears I’m not the only one” Y/N sat back too as they both just stared, waiting for the other to break.

Then it was as if time had stopped and started again at double speed.

In a flash, Y/N had crawled across the table as Nikolai grabbed for her and pulled her down into his lap as he sat back, sending wine everywhere and knocking one of the candles out leaving them in a dim glow. Her hands immediately went for his hair as their lips connected in a fury of passion and light, his hands fumbling up the side of her hips to push the fabric of her shirt up to allow for his fingers to stroke at her soft skin. He gasped as she pulled his curls back and exposed his neck, reattaching her lips to the base of his throat, his hands moving lower down her back as she worked purple marks onto his skin. She rolled her hips into his once and it was as if something within him clicked. One minute she was in his lap causing him to moan out in struggled breaths, the next he had pressed her onto the dinner table and pulled at both her thighs to drag her as close as possible to him. 

“We should-” She tried to speak but the words fell short as he held her against him,pressing his body against hers, using his hold on her arse to grind her against him.

“Your room Nikolai?” Her words fell out in quick gasped before he pulled away, his eyes dark and hair disheveled. Silently he held her hand and walked her from his study, keeping her close as they made their way deeper into the palace. Y/N tried to recall the route to his room but every second there he spent pinning her against the nearest wall, his lips making her mind fog until they finally reached his bedroom doors. 

“Do you want this Y/N?” He held her face in his hands as he peered down at her after shutting his door. She placed her hands on top of his, gulping once before repeating yes. What was once an intense movement of desperate hands and rough kisses now felt deeper, more passionate as he pushed her back against the closest wall, her back arching as the cold bit at her skin. He reacted with her and took opportunity of her head looking up to kiss a line under her jaw and down her throat as one of her hands reached for anything to hold while the other latched onto his shirt to drag him impossibly closer. His hands moved from her neck down to her waist where he dropped to his knees. Y/N frowned at the loss of contact but couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows as he pulled off her pants and kissed up her thigh while his thumb played with her underwear. She went to snap his name as he took too long but immediately shut up as he pulled down the fabric and brushed his tongue along her heat, her hand finding his hair following her gasp. He stopped for a moment causing her to look down but she rolled her eyes as she was met with a smirking Nikolai staring up at her. As she called to complain, the words turned into moans as he curled two fingers into her, one hand pushing her thighs apart as her body threatened to collapse against the wall. 

His tongue joined in once more, lapping at her before her breaths became considerably heavier

“Nikolai I-” But in those last moments he spend up and used his other hand to run along the inside of her leg causing her to climax in a mess of moans and struggled breaths. Her body suddenly felt loose but as her head fell against the wall Nikolai stood fully, looping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him as he connected their lips once more. Deciding he needed to be taken down a notch, she pushed against his chest and walked them back before the backs of his knees touched his bed and she pushed him back, planting herself on top of him. 

Peeling open his shirt, she kissed every inch of his chest before stopping to look up at him 

“Saints Y/N please just-”

“Just what Nikolai?” She was enjoying this too much

He scowled hard at her but she batted her eyelashes expectantly.

“Your mouth please” She liked the sound of him begging 

Making quick work of his pants, she licked up the side of his length, relishing in the deep groan he let out as his hand fisted her hair. Slowly, she moved up and down his length, teasing every drop of energy from him before she sped up causing him to erupt in a swallowed mix of her name and a moan. 

Allowing him a moment, she sat up but he soon attacked her, grabbing her hips to flip her on her back, his body lining up with hers before he asked her if she was ready. In a mumble of agreement he pushed into her causing her to tense in a sudden movement but then melt as he rode into her his hand coming to hold hers above her head as their lips met again. 

After the first orgasm came the second and third, the fourth ending with Y/N backwards in Nikaoli’s lap as he sat up, her back against his as he bit at her neck, her head falling backwards into the crook of his shoulder before she fell forward, her back arching as they finished together. 

In the moments of silence that followed after, the two lay side by side in a mess of panting and sweat before Nikolai left for a minute to return with a damp cloth, whispering sweet nothings as he clean her up while she hissed at the sensitive touch. 

His bed sheets welcomed her with open arms, Nikolai following suit. Y/N didn’t even realise Nikolai was talking until the movement of him turning to face her, shook her alert. 

“What?”

His face seemed to fall slightly as he looked around as if to recover from embarrassment

“I said” He coughed lowly “That I” His face seemed to search for the right words before he swallowed hard “Never mind” 

Deciding to ignore his sudden strange aura, she indulged in placing her hand on his bare chest before he held it in his own, his fingers moving as he laced his with hers, not daring to look at her as he lay it back down of his torso, her hand locked with his. Ending the night with a light kiss on the back of her hand, all the while refusing to even glancing at her. 

And in a matter of moments they were both asleep. 

Until they weren’t. Until she wasn’t. Until she kissed his forehead sweetly and slid out of the bed, replacing her clothes in a silent rush. 

And it wasn’t until she stood over him did she begin to regret everything she was about to do. But before she could allow the thoughts of a future with him no matter how pathetic they may be to intrude her vision, she had swiped the crown off from his bed side, under the deep green of his cloak she stole and made her way out of the palace. 

Only when she had met with Yuta who stood by the carriage she had planned to steal hours before did she let the tears fall, her first mates understanding nod sending her into a flood of emotions as she understood every fiber of trust Nikolai lay on her was now burning in the deep flames she set in her heart. Only when she reunited with her own ship and former crew did she suck up her pain and paint on that face she had so closely began to loath in the hours previous. 

She was a thief. 

She was a liar. 

And now she better hoped she could be a Ghost as she knew in the hours coming she’d be the most wanted criminal in Ravka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well well well that just happened ;)))))
> 
> The Ghost's plan was sent in motion from the minute she met him and never changed even when circumstances or feelings did
> 
> It's going to break my baby Nikolai when he wakes up and figures out what she has done 
> 
> I'm very excited to write the remaining chapters and wrap up our story (don't worry I'm not done quite yet probably about ten more chapters to go) and we may even be seeing a few more familiar faces when we venture to a certain city in the west with a certain gloved bastard 
> 
> Don't forget to leave kudos and a comment 
> 
> Stay safe and well 
> 
> xoxox


	24. Chapter 24

Nikolai 

Waking with a yawn, Nikolai slid his hand through the pale of his sheets, fingers reaching out for another. But as he blinked away his sleep and raised his head, he was met with the empty space where she had lay last night. 

“Y/N?”

No response. No movement from behind his changing partition. No sound from his bathroom. A deafening silence. 

Fearing the worst, he shot up and made for his dressing gown he knew lay under a pile of clothes strewn by his chair. But something was off, far more off than just a missing Y/N. The green cloak he knew he had left on top of the pile had disappeared along with The Ghosts belongings he was sure lay beside his and while he hated himself for even thinking it, every bone in his body was screaming for him to turn around and check for his crown. 

As if the slower he turned the more likely the possibility a misunderstanding would occur, Nikolai shifted to face where his crown was supposed to lay in a long minute of desperation. But it was all for nothing. What stood before him was not his crown or a note or even a sign of Y/N. What stood before him was a bare dark bedside table, any presence of his crown jewel void. 

His heart sank. And then shattered as he had to alert the others of his crown and Y/n’s disappearance. And then it completely obliterated as he had to confirm he knew she was the thief while his friends - Zoya, Genya, David and the twins tried not to pity him as he explained what had happened. That he had lay his trust in the wrong person. That despite what everyone told him he was still naive enough to give Y/N his heart. To think she wouldn’t succumb to such temptations. 

But even while he faced his demons of anger and allowed frustration creep in, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the deep stab of pain that clawed at his stomach as his heart cracked and his thoughts bled. 

By the ninth bell of the morning he wasn’t even sure if it was the mortal rage of her betrayal that fueled him or the longing of his heart to see her once more, the touch her skin, to hear her voice, that lured him out onto open waters to the one place he knew someone with her particularly heavy loot would venture.


	25. Chapter 25

By the time Y/N’s ship had reached the docks of Ketterdam, she thanked the saints for the cover of darkness and baron streets as wanted posters of her face were already popping up on walls and against posts. Nikolai knew. Of course he knew, it wasn’t difficult to decipher that it was her who stole his crown and yet the words ‘WANTED FOR TREACHERY AGAINST THE CROWN’ still stung a little. 

Prior to arriving Y/N had informed her crew of their stay in the dirty city until the weeks end. Instructing them to enjoy themselves while she tied up loose ends and sold off the crown that hung heavy in her bag. 

Upon docking, her crew took her orders to ‘relax’ with less of a dispute than she expected leaving her alone in the streets while they all split off in smaller groups of laughter and haste, ready to enjoy what little time they had in such a place. Even Yuta left Y/N behind as she waved goodbye and followed others into a grotty tavern shoved between two rotting buildings. 

Night had befallen the city hours ago and as Y/N walked through the back streets of cobbles a thick layer of fog engulfed the sky and the patter of rain silenced the click of her boots as she made her way to her second stop of the night, the first being to pawn off Nikolai’s green cloak after she swapped it out for her deep blue coat, tied at the waist with her silver buckle belt-the taught of the leather feeling almost welcome as apposed to the stolen cloak, even if it met that without a hood her hair became damp and flat.

Slipping in was easy enough and she knew exactly where the man she wanted would be. Two stories up, above the ruckus of the club, Y/N clicked open the latch to an old six pane window and pulled herself through, careful not to slip on the wet sill as she did. The room was as dark as usual, the only light being a tiny slither of orange through a crack in the floor boards and the glow of the moon outside.

Her eyes scanned what she could make out as she walked to the large desk that sat in the centre, covered in papers, empty ink wells and dirty money pouches. 

Before she could inspect the table every hair on her body shot up as a slither of a noise creaked behind her. Turning in an instant, her hand shot out just before a long black cane met the side of her face, her fingers screaming as they took the blow. 

“Hello Ghost” His voice was a smooth welcome laced with the poison of a viper. 

“Bloody hell Kaz take my head off why don’t you” 

Kaz Brekker. As infamous on land as she was on sea, his reputation proceeded him. But as ruthless as they both appeared, the two had known each other for years and Y/N even reported back to him every couple of months when she ran into a certain Sulli sea captain during the intercepted export of women. 

“Don’t break into my office and I won’t try to next time” The black haired man loosened his shoulders and lowered his cane, his own wet coat being peeled off as he relaxed into the space. 

“Not my fault that girlfriend of yours taught me how to get in. Honestly Brekker you need to update your locks” Y/N kept her damp coat on as she turned to lean back against his desk, observing the clearly tired man attempt not to react. 

“She’s not my girlfriend. She-”

“Tell that to your letters Brekker” Swiping the glass of the table she took a sniff before gulping down what appeared to be wine and standing up in a swift motion, waltzing around the room as she began a dramatic reading of Kaz’ letters to her.

“Please update on the well being of The Wraiths captain the next time you meet and ensure she seems well” 

If looks could kill Y/N would be six feet under with Kaz patting the soil. 

“Stop it” He groaned followed by him leaning forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his knees. “You’ve been very busy last I heard. Why are you here now? If you were half as smart as I know you are you’d be as far away from here as possible. You have a bounty on your head”

“I know. Look Kaz the King is going to come looking for me-”

“Obviously” He interjected. 

“They’ll ask you if you know anything and I need you to lead them off my trail”

“Go on”

“I’ve already sold off the crown and am heading south. I just need you to lead them north”

“How much did you get for it?” 

She hesitated but continued. The price she got from her buyer negotiated on the docks half and hour earlier lay her pockets with a heavy enough dent it made even her a tad nervous to be walking around the city with. 

“Enough. Will you do it?”

He did the same but after a moment or two, nodded once. 

“Thank you thank you”

“Wait” He held up a gloved hand. “I’ll take them off your tail but if the King asks personally I can’t lie”

“Since when were you a man of loyalty to the crown?”

“I’m not but I know the King” He ignored her shocked look “I owe him one” 

Knowing never to push for more with Brekker, Y/N slid down a letter on the before making for the window. 

“That’s from her. Inej I mean. She told me to give it to you the next time we met, knowing I’d most likely to see you before she did”

She tried to hide the smile that crawled on her face as Kaz’ eye lit up before he had to remind himself of his reputation, slowing his hand as it snatched for the letter on the coffee table. Inej had acted just as eagerly when she told her of Kaz’ letters looking out for her, not that Y/N would even let Kaz know that Inej is aware of him looking out for her. Y/N even recalled one particular night of Inej and herself sharing stories in which they talked shit about Brekker, the Sulli woman taking far more sweet of the man than Y/N would complained mostly about his arrogance. 

“Goodbye Brekker”

“Goodbye Y/N”

Dropping into the streets, the fog had cleared but with it the rain had taken bounds into becoming heavier as the water pelted hard from the sky, Y/N cringing as her hair that had just began to dry not stuck back against her skin and her socks became wet from the cracks in the leather. That would be the first thing Y/N would spend the money on, new boots. But as she trailed down the streets, sticking to the shadows, she was unaware of the man that hid in them with her. Up until a heavy forearm slapped her into the wall and she was met with the piercing hazel of eyes and the darkened blonde of damp hair. 

“I think you have something of mine Y/N”

Nikolai.


	26. Chapter 26

Nikolai was breathing heavy but matched against Y/N’s, his breaths seemed quiet as he stood before her locking her against the wall with his hands on either side of her body. 

“I think you have something of mine Y/N” 

She looked any where but his eyes as he glared down at her, the damp of the stone behind them stabbing against his hands, the sleet gaining force causing his hair to become damp, her figure appearing distorted as he blinked away the water.

In a sudden burst of movement Y/N attempted to slip under his arm but he knew her moves all too well by now and grabbed her forearm and kicked his leg out behind her own, sending her on her knees in the street before him, the hand he held raised as the rest of her body slumped. She looked defeated. She didn’t even lift her head this time. 

“How could you?” His voice was worn. He thought over what he’d say a thousand times on the way to the city yet stood here, now, all he could do was ask her that. 

It felt like minutes before she finally looked up at him against the rain that had since grown in momentum once more and began to pound down. She stayed silent, but the way her lip quivered and her eyes glossed over caused him to panic and pull her to her feet, his hands still latched around her arm. 

“Nikolai I-”

“I trusted you Y/N”

“I told you you shouldn’t” She was slipping back into her old self. Defensive. Laying the blame elsewhere. Just like a pirate he thought. 

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t” His voice stayed low and he took a step closer, daring the thin line that held between them. “If you and your crew needed money-”

“I don’t need your pity Nikolai” She spat back 

“No you need my forgiveness. There’s a price on your head Y/N. Bigger than usual”

“And who’s fault is that?” She couldn’t be serious? Nikolai was trying. Trying so hard not to just-

“Who’s fault is that?” He laughed pushing her away from him. The two facing each other in the dim street, their voices beginning to rage. “It’s yours Y/N. You tried to steal from me once, I gave you a choice thinking perhaps you’d find some semblance of respect along the way and leave without the crown. And yet you still played me like you play everyone else for what? Money?”

“You’re just like everyone else Nikolai” She smacked back, a frustrated smile on her face as she raised her arms by her side in question. “What did you think because we might of had something that I’d just forget about why I met you in the first place? It was always going to be that way Nikolai no matter what we felt for each other”

“Felt for each other? Y/N I’d give everything for you to just look at me for a moment the way I look at you but I guess I was too naive to believe you wouldn’t break my trust the way you broke my he-” He stopped himself short. They fell into a sudden silence, Nikolai feeling her eyes pierce into him as he stared at the ground between them, the rain dripping off his curls and blurring his vision. 

“I’ve already sold it” She spoke quietly through the rain. “The crown I mean. It’s probably already out of the city”

“I don’t care about the-that’s not why I came. I need to know if what we had was-”

“The Ghost?” A male voice sounded from behind her at the end of the alleyway. In the dark stood a tall man, knife drawn at his side. Nikolai stepped closer to her, his hand almost touching hers. 

“No”

“There’s a price on your head girl. Saw your ship dock a couple hours ago” He was a greasy man, ink black hair slicked, his face layered in scars and a untamed beard. Nikolai had to stop himself from gulping at the sight as he began to calculate how well both their fighting skills might match up against a giant like him. 

“You’ve got the wrong person buddy” Y/N’s voice didn’t quiver but the way in which Nikolai saw her slowly unsheathe her sword made him second guess her confidence in her ability to lie. 

“No no it’s definitely you. I remember you. You stole my ship once. Three years ago” 

Nikolai reached for his sword too. 

“You and your little whores hijacked my trading vessel” The man took three great steps but stopped just short of them. “Those slaves were going to line my pockets little girl”

“I suggest” Y/N pointed her sword at him “You back off. I don’t know what you’re talking about” 

“Oh but you do” The smile he pulled set a shiver down Nikolai’s spine. “You tried to kill me and I gave you that great scar across your neck” 

Nikolai had noticed it the first night they met. The way in which a thin line of skin sat raised just blow her throat, the scar of someone who almost lost their head. Something within Y/N must have clicked because in that second she lunged for the man and they broke into a deadly fight of metal and blood. Nikolai wasn’t sure when to step in but just before he went to help her he heard a cough from the shadows behind. 

Stepping into the faint glow of the moon through the rain emerged four or five figures clad in black hoods. 

“You with her?” The front man pointed a small blade in his direction and before Nikolai could stop to think that they were referring to the wanted Ghost and not just any woman he could feel jealous over he said a firm yes. 

“He wanted too?” The hooded man spoke to his friends.

“No? Get rid of him” 

Before Nikolai could even react, four men piled on top of him punching and kicking, dragging him to the floor, smashing his arm into the stone before he could utilise his blade. He fought them off one by one but a yelp from Y/N distracted him long enough for the smallest of the figures to drive a thin blade in his abdomen. 

Dropping to the ground, he clutched his stomach and made a noise that got caught in his throat, not for his own help but to warn the woman in front of him. Before his vision began to blur, he made to stand again but his knees buckled under his own weight and a wave of black pushed him back down. The last thing he heard was Y/N’s panicked called from him as she fought off six men before he blacked out in the rainy streets of Ketterdam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was mostly dialog and then a little bit of action but I basically just wanted to set up for when Nikolai and Y/N have a much needed talk and what better way than to bed rid Nik via a life threatening wound oops ;)))


	27. Chapter 27

The Ghost 

In the moments before returning to Nikolai’s side, Y/n had ran down every nook Ketterdam could cram between the tall, damp buildings until she lost the men attempting for her life. And while she initially held one hand against the small slash on her arm from a rogue dagger, she immediately felt numb with dread upon seeing Nikolai’s body, vulnerable and bleeding out against the cobbles. 

She had tried not to cry but the frustration of her inability to drag the dead weight man into the nearest door caused tears to prick at her eyes and her mouth to let out struggled breaths and pleas. 

The night had ended soon after when her screams for Brekker were answered when him and whom she recognised as Jesper Fahey rounded the corner and toward the crows den where she stood. The two men said nothing as they helped her drag the King upstairs and furiously worked to sew the great gash along his hip together. Jesper even had to send Y/N to fetch clean water when her hands shook too much to perform any half decent stitch while the King lay unconscious on a spare guest bed in the highest and furthermost room in the attic, away from curious eyes. 

In the hours that followed Y/N had wiped away her tears, felt a hot raging anger for the men who stabbed Nikolai, cried at the realisation that it was her fault and cried some more until Brekker had snapped harshly at her to pull herself together, reminding her of who she was. Of course Jesper sat with her after and reassured her it was okay to feel a little worried and helped her talk through it, all while handing her a mug of something she’d rather never find the name of. 

At the end of it all, Y/N wasn’t sure if it was the rain softening or her falling asleep that caused the sound of the pitter against glass to quiet down and lull her into a deep sleep, Kaz whispering where he’d be should she need them again as Jesper lay a blanket over her shoulders and bid her good night. 

——————————————————————————————————————————————

The next morrow Y/N was awoken by a light brush of her fingers. Rising to sit up properly in the chair she slept in shoved tight against Nikaoli’s bed, she felt the cricks and pains aching down her spine and through her legs before she registered the touch against her palm and snapped ahead to stare at Nikolai who lay with his eyes closed. 

“Do I still look hansom?” Nikolai’s voice was croaky and rough, Y/N tried not to entertain the thought of any other reason innocent or otherwise why she’d be blessed enough to hear his morning voice. 

“What”? He couldn’t be serious?

“How do I look?” His eyes remained shut but he squeezed Y/N finger tighter now, signaling her turn to answer.

“Shitty”

“Ah like you then” He joked but as he opened his eyes and was met with the tired purple of hers, his hand squeezes were replaced with two single strokes of his thumb. 

“Y/N I-”

“I’m so sorry Nikolai” She tried to hold her breath. To hold on to the tears but as she clutched his hand in both of her own and bent over herself to bring her head to his hand she bust out in a flurry of tears and sniffles. “I never meant for you to get hurt. I mean the only reason you were there in the first place was to get me to bring the crown back to you”

“That’s not why I came-”

“And it ended up with you almost dying in the streets and I told myself Saints above if you die I might as well seen as they’ll hunt me down next for suspected murdering you or something and I’m just”

“Y/N” Nikolai’s raised voice shook her. He used her spared hand to reach forward and reach to wipe a tear but he seemed to stop half way. Y/n heart broke a little more then. “I knew exactly what I was getting into when I came here alone. Don’t carry whatever guilt you think you’re worthy of. Okay?”

She didn’t respond until he used two fingers to raise her face to look at him. 

“Okay” she tried to at least attempt to not sound out of breath. But Y/N couldn’t help herself. As easy as it was to melt into her lap and accept his justifications, she began to let the darkest of her thoughts slip in. The unworthiness, the way she knew people thought of her. What Nikolai thought of her. And as quick as she was willing to fall to her knees for him, she stood up fully and wiped just once a sleeve across her face to gather the betraying tears. 

“How could you be so stupid Nikolai? Trying to what? defend me. You almost got yourself killed”

Nikolai clearly had been prepared for this as instead of laughing in shock like usual he simply shook his head no and swung his legs out from the bed, a quick jab of pain settling before her sat at the edge of the frame, his elbows on his knees as he considered god knows what while Y/N shook waiting. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say Y/N”

“Say that you’ll go home. That you’ll go live your perfect little life and forget you ever met me”

“How could you say that?” He stood up in a quick move, the rush sending him wobbling forward until he caught himself on the edge of the bed, Y/N retracting the hand that almost lay on his waist to steady him just before he could notice. “Y/N I- I don’t want to just forget about you, what we’ve been through what we’ve done together. I-”

Y/N almost laughed as she pointed at him before taking several steps back, trying to distance herself as quick as possible. 

“Don’t do that Nikolai”

“Do what?” His face was unreadable, stuck between wanting to cry, anger and confusion. 

“Don’t act like anything that’s happened between us was significant”

He flinched at her words but she couldn’t stop herself as she continued. 

“Don’t don’t” She was at a loss for words until they flooded down on her when Nikolai gave her a knowing look, that he was about to break, 

“I’m not in control of your heart Nikolai don’t try to get me to feel something about you just because you feel some stupid little moment of attraction towards me”

It was his turn to laugh. She felt like they’d had this argument ten times over. 

“You think I’m in control? You think I want this? To be in l-” They stared silently at each other before he ran a hand through his blonde curls and continued. “You think I want to be in love with someone I know doesn’t love me back, to want someone who will never have me? I’m well aware”

“You can’t say these things Nikolai” She tried not to let the tears of glass that welled in her eyes break. “I’m going to leave now and we’re going to go our separate ways. You’ll go back to the city, marry some pretty girl and forget you ever met me and I’ll- I’ll just go”

“Y/N please” His voiced rasped with plea. 

“What Nikolai? what options do we have? I’m not a Grisha nor a princess or even a high lady I’m a pirate and a bloody good one of that you think you’ll look good with me? That we suit each other?”

“So you admit it?” He stepped to her, his face a coil of pain as he winced. 

“What?”

“You admit that you’re only holding back because of what we are? A King and a Pirate? That you could actually feel something for me?” 

“Nikolai we can’t”

“But if we could?” He held her face in his hands and it was as if her whole world had stopped. 

“If we could?”

“If there was a possibility?”

“Then I’d kiss you right here and now”

“There is”

“Is what?”

Y/N finally met his green eyes 

“A possibility”

He didn’t answer but brought his lips to hers. It wasn’t rough or furious like before but soft and passionate like he’d never kiss her again, like her knew that she might do just that. And as quickly as it had begun it, Y/N cupped her hands around Nikolai’s on her face and pulled back. 

“Nikolai I-”

“Please-” She saw a tear drip down his cheek. “ Please just let us have this one moment before it all ends. Let us have this”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank You so much for all the kind comments I love you guys


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT EDITED YET

It was so incredibly quiet. The air had felt thick all morning as if a question was hanging silently in the air. Even the rain pattering down upon Ketterdam outside seemed to wait mid air, listening, waiting for one of them to break. After the kiss the two broke away just quick enough before Jesper came waltzing into the attic room, a timid man with golden red hair scampered in behind him offering to change Nikolai's bandages. Y/N spent the entire time in the furthest part of the room leaning against the door frame spending far too much time studying the scuffs of leather on her boots. She could hear Nikolai hiss once or twice while the man, who she heard introduced as Wylan, checked his stitches, but begged every bone in her body not to look over even if she could feel someones eyes on her the entire time. 

Before the two men left Jesper invited them down to Kaz's study much to Y/N amazement. 

"He lets you in there" She laughed as her and the sharp shooter made their way downstairs, her head only turning back to check the remaining two followed them. As much as she willed her body not too, her stomach flipped when she made eye contact with a struggling Nikolai as Wylan supported half his body, the king struggling a smile when he saw her looking with worried eyes. 

"Of course he does I'm his favorite" Jesper replied using his boot to push open the hard wooden door to Kaz' study. 

"Think again Llewellyn " Kaz rounded the corner from what Y/N assumed was a wash room, his shoulders clad in what she recognised as a cleaner version of the white shirt from the night before with his sleeves rolled halfway up his forearms, two black suspenders wrapped over his shoulders, a matching tie hanging loosely around his neck and his infamous leather gloves. 

"Don't say my middle name you know how I feel about it" Jesper hissed as the group gathered further into the surprisingly light room, the grey glow from the fog glazed mid day sky gleaming in through two large windows behind Brekker's desk. 

" Llewellyn ?" Y/N laughed as she took a seat in front of the burning fire. 

"Watch yourself Ghost you're only feared on the seas" 

"I'll have you know I am as equally as skilled with a knife on land as I am water" She resorted, glaring back at him as he ignored her by pouring himself a cup of coffee from the tray set on the deep mahogany desk. 

"She's not. Got captured almost immediately when she tried to kill me for the second time" Nikolai interjected from beside her on the sofa where Wylan had left him. She dared to look to the right but cursed herself when Nikolai was staring back at her smirking with one arm propped up on the arm of the velvet chair, the other holding his wound under his shirt. 

"Eat" Kaz appeared beside her shoving a baked pastry in her hand, nodding over at the warm drinks Jesper was pouring for them all. 

"the hospitality is truly outstanding here Brekker" She laughed as her hand met the hot touch of a coffee filled tea cup. 

"Well when in the presence of royalty" He grinned. Nikolai letting out a short laugh from behind them both. 

"You know you don't care that much about me Brekker" Nikolai parried besides Wylan who had taken Y/N's place. 

"You're right I don't. You still got that reward out for your crown yes?" 

Y/N froze in her place afraid if she moved she might draw attention to the fact everyone knew on that reward poster they had all seen thrown up around the city adorned her face, a heavy bounty attached beneath 'WANTED'. 

Nikolai confirmed with a questioning yes as Brekker joined them by the fire in a smaller arm chair, his hands locking together as he stared between her and the king, a smile she had begun to hate stuck on his face. 

"Brilliant I know how to get it back" He looked at the ghost who tried as hard as she might to sink into the shadows. "Don't worry Ghost it doesn't involve selling you out"

"Even though that would be easier" Jesper finished in a teasing whisper beside her. 

"An informant has told me where the buyer you sold Lanstov's crown to will be tonight and I have a way to get it back before someone tries to murder our Pirate here again for her bounty" 

Y/N didn't think she'd moved the entire time Kaz told them of his plan.

"A charity gala is being held at one of the gentleman's clubs not far from her tonight"

"Gentleman's?" Nikolai scoffed. 

"Far from it I'm sure you've guessed. The whole charity gambling thing is all just a cover for the real reason some of the richest men in Ketterdam are meeting in a smokey club in the damp of the city"

"Black market trading?" Y/N asked.

"Precisely little Ghost. And word has traveled fast that someone attending tonight has got their hands on one King Nikolai's tiara" 

"How do we get our hands on it?" Wylan spoke up from his own tea cup. 

"Apparently the dealer has already found himself a buyer and luckily for us they've never met face to face. They have no idea what each other looks like so when we send our very own Nikolai here and his beloved date for the evening Y/N to go collect their shiny new jewel, he'll think it's the real buyer and hand it over with you both on Y/N ship far from here before he can even realize he's been roused"

"One question, how they hell are we going to just what? slip in unnoticed to one of the most packed clubs in all the city when one of us has our faces plastered on every wall with a reward sign and the other one being the literal king of this kingdom" Y/N could almost laugh at how many ways she thought of how this could go wrong. 

"Not to worry-" Jesper intervened from beside her "We have it all covered" He pointed at Brekker and Wylan, the later of the two looking far less enthusiastic as the other. 

Kaz hit his cane of the wood beneath them as he rose from his seat "Nina should be coming round soon with your outfits for this evening. Ghost, try not to get yourself into any more trouble tonight and your liege" He fake bowed at Nikolai "Try not to get recognised"

The two hummed in annoyance just as who Y/N remembered as Nina from the few times they'd met walk into the room, her arms full of fabric. 

The night came all too quickly for Y/N's liking. Before she knew it Nina had shoved her into Brekkers wash room with a bundle of black material in her arms. When she emerged back into the study she was clad in a long black velvet dress, her arms covered in an equally obsidian pair of full length gloves that hid all the scars and branding up to her biceps years on the sea had cursed her with. In the hour she spent int eh wash room Nina had joined her to pin up her hair in a half decent bun and helped her smother her eyes in a sleek black coal. She looked stunning. She felt stunning. But all breath was lost when she walked out and met eyes with Nikolai. 

Before her stood the King looking better than she even remembered when they first met, his form dressed in a black tux, a gleaming white shirt beneath the perfectly tailored jacket, a matching velvet bow tie wrapped around his neck as his hands fastened his cuff-links. 

"Looking good for a ghost" Nina whistled as Y/N closed the bathroom door behind her. As hard as she tried she couldn't ignore the way Nikolai seemed to have frozen all together as he stared at her. "Wouldn't you agree Lanstov?" The Grisha poked as her and Wylan smiled at the pair. 

"Yes. Absolutely beautiful" She ignored the way her heart was screaming to acknowledge how he appeared short of breath looking at her, the king she knew now shuffling awkwardly in front of her. 

"You clean up well" She needed to do something to break the silence that washed over the.

"I-better than this morning I suppose" She moved to straighten his bow tie in attempt to give her fidgeting hands something to do, feeling too bare without her sword on her belt. 

"How is your wound?" She promised herself not to make eye contact but deemed looking at his lips far too testing as she did so. 

"Better. Nina had some healing remedies she gave me before. I'm good as knew"

He tried to laugh but stopped when Y/N stayed silent, looking anywhere but his face. Before she could pull back his hand cupped her face. 

"Hey Y/N" He whispered so the two crows couldn't hear her name "We'll be okay. Just think we'll be out of here before sunrise on our way back to Ravka" She pulled back, her hands cupping his on her face and pulling them down not wanting to think about the part where she knew they'd have to part once again, for most likely the last time. 

"Kaz and Jesper should almost be ready to go we need to leave now" Nina instructed apprehensively, obviously sensing the moment they were sharing in which Nikolai looked at Y/N as if she held the world. 

"Ready?" Nikolai asked as they all left, Nina only leaving a smirk in response. 

The gala had well and truly begun by the time the group neared. They were several alleyways away and yet could already here the yelling of drunken rich men with too much audacity and the drum of music. 

"Over here" Y/N picked up from deep within the shadows. As they neared the cut off between two streets Wylan gasped behind them 

"Saints brekker what is?-"

"Put these on" He handed Nikolai and Y/N a mask each from the two heaps of a couple on the ground tied up and gagged unconscious against a post. Jesper laughed at the shocked faces of the group and responded quickly

"This is the original buyer and his wife, all the dealer knows tonight is that he's meeting two people with those masks"

"What?" Y/N looked between the knocked out couple and the proud pair of delinquents 

"It's a masquerade theme you idiots"

"So put them on and go Saints you're going to be late" Kaz ushered them down the street in what Y/N now realised was a well executed plan she ought to expect of Brekker. 

Just before they entered the narrow cobbled street toward the Gentleman's club, Y/N and Nikolai took a look at their masks before they slid them over their faces. Nikolai causing Y/N to look up as his face now resembled that of a ginger fox, her own face covered in a white rabbit mask. 

"I feel the universe has a sick sense of humor at this point" He mumbled as he held his arm out for Y/N to take, the two of them appearing in front of the club. 

Hidden between two sloped buildings that seemed to press against on and other was a great charcoal black door, a huge lion knocker centered above a round gold handle. 

"Mr and Mrs Mendacium welcome" A short man older man appeared from behind the door before they even had a chance to knock, the thrum of music and laughter sounding from the open windows above them. She tried not to tense and Nikolai wrapped his arm around her waist and thanked the man as they entered the building, the two accepting glasses of champagne as they moved through the packed foyer into a large gambling room. 

"Your seat sir?" Another man asked Nikolai as they passed a large poker table shrouded in cigar smoke and patrons sipping whiskey and draped in women. Y/N held her breath before Nikolai agreed as to not seem suspicious and took a seat just to the left of the dealer. A larger man beside them smirked a sleek grin and pulled the woman on his lap closer to him as if she was a trophy. 

"There's space from your girl here if she wants" The greasy stranger nodded at his fat leg beside Nikolai. 

Without hesitation Y/N slid onto Nikolai's lap, her gloved hand wrapping around his neck as she leaned closer into him. 

"I find my husbands thigh to be just as satisfactory thank you" She told the gentleman as he scoffed. 

"You left her speak like that do you?" He spoke again toward Nikolai as if Y/N wasn't even capable of hearing. 

"I'm sure you'll understand my wife has quite the way with words" He dared rest his hand on her hip as he gathered the chips handed to him from the table. Y/N schooled her smirk and just for a moment allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of Nikolai's hands on her once more while the game proceeded. The way his fingers drummed against her, the way she could feel his breath close to her ear as he spoke to the other men surrounding the game. All too quickly btoh Y/N and Nikolai realised alcohol wasn't the only drug being passed around as the games continued. The large club grew cloudy with smoke and various powders and pills were shared, the women on the laps of players becoming looser and the shadows of couples deep within the velvet curtains of the club becoming all too close. With Y/N only sat on Nikolai's lap they started too look out of place against the men with women draped across them, the gambling half slowed during the interruptions of players fondling their partners. They needed to fit in. 

"Don't kill me for this" She heard Nikolai whisper softly before his lips connected with her neck. A euphoric feeling spilled over her as he continued only stopping to instruct the dealer which cards he'd play. His hand moved from her hips down and along her thigh before his lips pressed near her ear.

"To the left by the benches just behind the green curtain" Nikolai spoke lowly knowing Y/N out of whatever trance she was in. Moving her eyes she saw a weasley looking man with his arms crossed just peaking out from a small exit. Understanding Nikolai the two stood up swiftly, Y/N hand pulling Nikolai's as if they were excusing themselves to go somewhere more private. 

Nikolai made contact with the man and wordlessly they all disappeared behind the curtain and upstairs into a narrow corridor. Above the bottom floor casino was a far more scandalous affair. All doors of the upstairs room were half open with some filled with drunken naked women moving over far too old men in a pile of sheets and sweat, others filled with smoke and the heavy scent of a drug Y/N hadn't smelt in years, in the reflection of a mirror peaking from one room even stood a Grisha performing a strange magic on a gentleman moans Y/N would rather not know about. 

Nikolai's hand didn't leave hers once and his fierce look urged her to nod reassurance as they made their way into a small room at the far end of the building. 

The room was circular with a line of sofas wrapping around the space creating an intimate setting with a smaller round table placed in the middle, a series of glasses and decanters of liquid stood tightly together in the dark candle it room. 

"I believe you'll be very satisfied with what you requested Mr Mendacium" The man was handed a beautifully decorative box by a tall far more intimidating man and turned to open it toward Nikolai. Placed in a layer of cushioned purple velvet sat his crown Y/N had sold to one of his associates just a night earlier. 

"Stolen straight from the grasp of the king himself. My spy is very good at what she does" She wanted to scream. She was not his spy, how dare he take credit for what she did even if she regrets it. She just wanted to-

"It's perfect" Nikolai interrupted her internal rage and reached out to inspect the crown as the scrawny man edged forward eyes wide with craze. 

"Excellent sir, excellent"

"Payment will be sent to you this evening" Nikolai told what Brekker instructed him just hours before. 

"Ah yes yes excellent yes yes" The man held his hands before him, his eyes shining brightly as he inspected Y/N, or more so inspected her body. 

"Wait wait wait" The man slammed his hand on the lid of the box almost trapping Nikolai's fingers. 

"You must understand how difficult it was to get this precious jewel" His sunken eyes didn't leave Y/N but in fact grew brighter as his head turned as if he was trying to peak under her mask. 

"A second payment for good service? This fine woman here perhaps?"

"Excuse me?" Y/N spat, Nikolai holding back the same response. 

"She's my wife" He was trying to stay calm rather than have them both seathing. 

"It would only be for an evening sir" The man crept closer, the dim lighting casting his face in a shadow as his hand reached out slowly. 

"Maybe even an hour if we're quick"

Before Y/N could leap across and snap his neck herself Nikolai had snap the mans reaching arm out from the arm and twisted his body, slamming the dealers front into the glasses on the table, Y/N pointing the needle thin knife she had concealed in the glove at the guard who dared to near them. 

Nikolai leaned over him pushing the mans face into the broken glasses as he squealed like a trapped rat. 

"You dare lay a hand on her, even think about her I will remove your insides quicker than you can say the King's name do you understand?" 

The man let out a small squeal until Nikolai pressed his face further into the shards of broken glass causing his to scream out agreement

"Brilliant now apologise" Nikolai pressed

"What?" It was as if it was the most barbaric thing the man had ever heard, to apologise to a woman.

"Now"

"Okay okay I'm sorry I never meant any disrespect my lady" 

"Good" Nikolai let off a little weight. " We'll be leaving now. I wish I could say it was a pleasure doing business with you" 

Shoving the man forward, he fell over the table taking the glasses with him with a weak cry, his guard reaching for him as the two left in a hurry out the door. 

As quick as moving through the bodies of people would allow it, Y/N and Nikolai finally made it out of the club before the fled down the street, stopping just short of an alley to catch their breaths. Removing their masks, they lean against apposite sides of the wall, both of them starting to laugh a little as they realised what stupidity they had just pulled off. In the moment of bliss and relief the stood closer to each other, the quiet of the night encasing them in an almost peaceful air. For the first time since Y/N had ever visited Ketterdam, it wasn't raining and while she looked up to inspect the star filled sky, Nikolai brought her face down his lips meeting hers in a tentative brush. 

They stood for what felt like hours Nikolai's hands cupping her face while her hand held his hip pulling him closer by his jacket opening. Only pulling away when the heat had passed. 

"Y/N I am-"

"I know" She hushed at him, not allowing him to finish. They both knew what he was going to say, she just wasn't sure if she could tell him the same yet. She knew she did. She loved Nikolai Lanstov with more heart than she thought she had. But she also knew she could never have something that was never hers. He was swore to Ravka, to it's people to his duties and they both knew she'd never fit. 

Her had brushed a curl from his face as they separated only by an impossible inch. 

"I know you do" 

The silence carried while they walked to the docks. Somewhere along the way Nikolai's jacket had been wrapped around Y/N's shoulders and his hand had found hers until the sight of her ship came into view just off the water. Before it stood the silhouette of the crows. 

"Success?" Kaz stood in the low light the ocean reflected onto the street. Nikolai held up the box in response. 

"Thank the Saints" Nina replied from behind him, moving past Kaz to hug Nikolai and Y/N in one. "I'm glad you're both safe" 

"You and me both" Someone spoke from down the docks. Just past Jesper and Wylan strode Tolya and Tamar. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nikolai laughed as he hugged the taller man. 

"We came as soon as you left for this one" He pointed behind his king at Y/N. 

"While I'm so glad fro this reunion we're all drawing too much attention to ourselves. It was a pleasure seeing you again. Do stop by soon" Kaz regarded Y/N, turning after to face Nikolai "My King, safe travels or whatever I'm supposed to say" And just like that Kaz Brekker slipped into the dark of the night once more, Jesper and Wylan following behind after a quick goodbye to them both. Nina grabbed Y/N had after bidding Nikolai farewell and turned to whisper to the pirate. 

"you'll tell him right?" Nina pressed in a hurry

"Tell who what?"

"Come on you're smarter than that"

They both knew who Nina was referring to. 

"We are from two different worlds. Worlds that should never have met"

"Do you love him?"

"We can't-"

"Do you love him?" Nina glared so deeply into Y/N eyes she thought she might even use whatever Grisha powers Y/N knew she had to force it out of her. 

"Yes" She finally admitted. "But you know-"

"Y/N listen to me. I know what it's like to love someone who seems worlds apart, who seems so unattainable it's stupid to even think you could ever see yourself with them but know that being together, the pain you might suffer being together will be so much better than anything you think you could feel without them"

"Nina I-"

"Please Y/N. I never got the chance to tell the person I loved that I wanted to be with them, that I loved them. I hope you never have to understand the pain I feel without him because I'm telling you now what I wish someone had said to me. Tell him you love him. Allow yourself to feel love even if it's only for a little while and you know you'll never love again"Nina's eyes filled with tears as her hands shook. Y/N could almost feel the pull of Nina's begging, the strength of her pain. 

"I-I-okay. I'll tell him" 

Nina left out a breath and brought their joined hands together, kissing the back of Y/N's palm. 

"I wish you all the happiness this universe has to offer you Y/N. Please do not take it for granted"

Y/N wasn't sure if she was saying okay to herself or Nina when they parted and she turned to face away from the Grisha who disappeared into the night. 

Beneath the moon light Nikolai whispered with Tolya before the taller man nodded and made his way to their ship hidden in the darkness with the crown in hand. The blonde turned around slowly, staring at the floor solemnly before snapping into a forced smile and taking a hesitant step forward. 

"Y/N I just want to say-"

"I love you" Y/N was surprised at how quickly she even said it. 

"Pardon?"

"I love you, I am in love with you" 

"Y/N I-" She didn't let Nikolai finish.

"I'm in love with your smile, with your laugh, with the way you argue with me over who's the better pirate even though we both know it's me-" 

Nikolai stepped closer as she continued

"I'm in love with the way you never doubted my abilities even though I never gave you a reason to trust me, I'm in love with the way you tease me and try to make me hate you even thought you know I could never, I'm in love with the way you challenge me to be better to do better ad I'm in love with the way, for the first time in my life, you make me feel safe even when I know e're not"

They stood in silence as she gasped for a breath before furrowing her brows at the way Nikolai stood smirking at her. 

"You admit it?"

"What?" She was going to kill him "I pour out my heart and you tell me 'you done'? Saints above Nikolai I've never confessed before and don't expect a huge reaction but fucki-

Before she could finish Nikolai lips pressed against hers. 

"You know-" He spoke between kisses "I'm in love with you" 

She hummed against him

"I've been in love with you-"His hand held her face "Since the moment you tried to kill me" 

She pulled back with a laugh "What-I believe you tried to kill me too your Highness"

He kissed her a final time "So we're even then?" 

She refused to answer. 

"Nikolai we-"

"Please Y/N"

He rest his forehead against hers his eyes tight shut as they savored the moment. 

For the first time in what felt like forever, she didn't disagree. 

"Okay" It all came crashing down. Their fate. Their future. And yet, in his arms Y/N had never felt so much calm. 

"We can figure this out"

Nikolai pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her middle as he brushed a fallen strand of hair from her face, Y/N arms coming around his shoulders. 

"I mean nothings impossible right?" 

He hummed in response, resting his head in the crook of her neck swaying them slightly. 

"We've done stupider things before? what's one more"

"What's one more?" He confirmed. 

"Strumhond" Nikolai heard Tolya call from the darkness. Sighing the couple laughed slightly. 

"I've got to-"

"Go. It's okay"

"You'll find me okay?" Nikolai asked after kissing her another time. 

"I do kind of know where you live" She smirked

"Good then I expect to see you soon"

"And if anyone asks who I am when I'm sneaking out of your room in the early hours of the morning like some secret affair"

Nikolai held her close but looked far off before kissing her a final time, only drawing back to whisper in her ear 

"I'll tell them you saw a ghost"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well here we are
> 
> I want to apologise for such a long wait I'm sure you all know how difficult everything has been with covid and since my last update I have gone through two different lockdowns in which I moved home both times from university. Speaking of which, all these delays were for a good cause as I just got my highest grade yet for my degree with in worth 40% of my final degree after my three years (currently in my second) so I'm happy about that 
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking with me this long if you were reading from the start back in September it's been one hell of a journey and I hope you liked Nikolai and the Ghosts story 
> 
> I will be starting a new one soon for ACOTARs Azriel with an original mc this time so look forward for that 
> 
> And enjoy the little epilogue 
> 
> Bye ;)


	29. Epilogue

Down spiraling alleyways and cobbled roads sat a seamstresses work shop stuffed in the back of a shambles of rickety houses piled upon one and other. The shop’s interior was as much of a clutter as the stacks of shops outside with rolls of fabric covering every inch of the room, trinkets of rattly metals and feathered dream catchers hanging from the ceiling and small glows of light emitting from candles propped in the few bare crevices around the tiny wooden shop. If you were to pass by during the long hours of the day you might find you see a knobbly old lady, a cane almost as tall of her with a crow upon it in hand hobbling out from behind a purple curtain where the ceiling slopped. But every now and then, when the rain poured it heaviest and the sea was too rough to steer, when the fog filled the city and the night was at its darkest you might be able to see, just past the steamed up glass of the front window a tiny glowing light. For deep within the little witches shop, hidden behind that raggedy old purple curtain a ghost and a fox could be found. They'd share stories of adventures and reminisce on tales of the past and for that one night every few moons they were simply two lovers counting down the days until they could tell the world their story.


End file.
